Volkswagon sales drop in Sept.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) reported a 5.9 percent drop in sales of its VW brand car in the United States last month, while the group's premium badge Audi managed to keep sales flat in September.

The core VW brand managed to sell just 18,891 vehicles in the final month of the third quarter, as total demand for its Passat sedan and estate models plunged 40 percent.

That brought cumulative sales in the nine months through September down 3.9 percent to 175,079 units.

VW has become such a small player in the U.S. car market that Audi's sales of its premium Q7 sport utility vehicle more than doubled those of the mass market VW brand Touareg SUV.

Audi reported sales edged up by 0.2 percent to 8,021 vehicles as stronger demand for the Q7 compensated for a drop off in sales of its core A4 mid-size model range.

In the first nine months, sales rose 9.4 percent to 68,479 Audi brand units.