(AP) -- Volkswagen of America says December U.S. sales of its namesake brand vehicles fell on steep drops in demand for nearly all of its models.

The German automaker says it sold 17,577 vehicles last month.

That's down more than 14 percent from 20,543 it sold in December 2007.

Jetta sales fell a combined 9.8 percent to just over 8,000 units while Passat sales slid nearly 21 percent to 2,532.

Volkswagen's 2008 brand sales dropped to 223,128 vehicles from 230,572 in 2007.

Audi of America U.S. sales dropped more than 9 percent to 7,712 vehicles last month. Sales of its A-4 model fell more than 8 percent to 3,854 units.

Audi of America is Volkswagen's luxury U.S. division.

Audi says its 2008 sales fell about 6 percent to 87,760 vehicles.

(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)