Auto sales inevitably suffered in 2020. After all, buying a new car probably isn't top on the list of people's priorities during a pandemic. However, after production plants reopened many automakers have ended the year strongly. Now, Volkswagen has released its Q4 2020 sales for North America, and the figures are very encouraging.

In Q4 last year, VW's US sales increased by 11 percent to 94,330 units, up from 85,167 in Q4 2019. It's not all good news, however, because the automaker's total US sales fell to 325,784 in 2020, a 10 percent drop compared to the 363,322 units sold in 2019. Nevertheless, VW still has a reason to celebrate because these were the automaker's best Q4 sales since 2014.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Volkswagen attributes its US Q4 2020 sales growth to the unrelenting demand for SUVs. In fact, SUVs made up 58 percent of VW's 2020 sales in America, bolstered by the launch of the 2021 Volkswagen Atlas facelift and the all-new Atlas Cross Sport.

In Q4 2020, VW shipped 56,585 SUVs to US buyers, a 22 percent increase over the same period last year. In contrast, VW's quarterly passenger car sales decreased by 2.4 percent in Q4 2020 with 37,745 units sold compared to 38,688 in Q4 2019.

"Our SUVs led the way in giving us a positive close to the year. Atlas sales were particularly strong as the newly designed 2021 model and Atlas Cross Sport brought even more customers to the brand," said Duncan Movassaghi, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Volkswagen of America.

Atlas sales increased by a whopping 44 percent to 31,445 units in Q4 2020, up from 21,803 in Q4 2019, while 11,079 Atlas Cross Sports were sold in Q4 2020. In addition, 72 percent of VW's US sales were to new customers, up from 68 percent in 2017 as the automaker continues to repair the damage done to its reputation by Dieselgate.

The new Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport also successfully attracted new customers to the VW brand, as over 80 percent of VW's SUVs sold in the US last year were to new buyers.