That's according to the carmaker Wednesday (January 12).
The German company made 8.9 million deliveries overall.
The Volkswagen brand itself saw an 8.1% drop in sales to just under 4.9 million units.
VW was hit hard in China, where sales fell almost 15%.
The company put some of the blame on a global shortage of semiconductors.
Its woes were in contrast to German rival BMW.
The luxury carmaker saw record deliveries for the year.
The BMW brand sold more than 2.2 million vehicles.
It meant the company overtook Daimler's Mercedes-Benz for the first time in five years as the top-selling premium carmaker worldwide.
Its success was in part put down to an ability to adapt to supply chain shortages.
Both VW and BMW reported strong growth in North America.
Sales of hybrid or fully-electric vehicles also rose across the industry, particularly in Europe.
