Volkswagen gross sales drop in Europe however China gives EV increase

A emblem of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen on a automobile parked on a avenue in Paris, France, July 9, 2020. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

BERLIN, July 15 (Reuters) – Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) gross sales fell by round a fifth within the first half of this 12 months from a 12 months earlier, firm knowledge confirmed on Friday, led by a steep drop in Europe, however battery-electric gross sales had been boosted by development in China.

Whole deliveries to clients worldwide had been down 22.4% within the second quarter of the 12 months, with central and japanese Europe, which included Russia, hardest hit with a drop of 49.3%.

Volkswagen suspended commerce and manufacturing in Russia in March and not too long ago supplied payoffs to workers for quitting voluntarily at certainly one of its websites within the nation by the top of the 12 months. A commerce union reported earlier this month the location was closing completely. learn extra

Whereas gross sales in Russia accounted for less than round 2% of Volkswagen’s complete gross sales in 2021, the conflict has prompted disruptions throughout Europe’s automobile business from provide chain bottlenecks to inflation impacting deliveries all through the area. learn extra

Volkswagen’s gross sales in western Europe fell 25.7% within the second quarter, Friday’s knowledge confirmed, whereas China and the Americas noticed a extra reasonable drop of round 16-18%.

Battery-electric car (BEV) deliveries elevated by simply over 1 / 4 to 217,100, making up 5.6% of complete gross sales – bolstered largely by vital development in China.

Whereas Europe, historically Volkswagen’s strongest battery-electric market, noticed a 16.5% drop in BEV gross sales within the second quarter, gross sales greater than doubled in China. learn extra

Within the first half of the 12 months, Volkswagen’s China BEV gross sales noticed a greater than three-fold enhance from final 12 months to 63,500 items, the corporate reported.

Nonetheless, the carmaker lags far behind native opponents and Tesla in China, promoting round 5 occasions lower than Tesla and 10 occasions lower than home EV maker BYD in Might.

Chatting with journalists earlier on Wednesday, Volkswagen’s China chief mentioned it “appears to be like promising” for gross sales of its ID electrical automobiles to greater than double this 12 months within the nation.

The ID.4 far outsold different battery-electric fashions globally at 66,800 items bought, adopted by 26,000 ID.3 automobiles and 24,700 Audi e-tron automobiles.

Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Enhancing by Miranda Murray, Kirsten Donovan and Tomasz Janowski

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