BERLIN, (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) increase in sales last year was driven by its mass-market cars and premium brand Audi, whose sales outstripped pre-pandemic deliveries at 1.9 million vehicles, according to data released on Friday.
The German carmaker reported on Tuesday a 12% rise in deliveries last year to 9.24 million vehicles, marking a post-pandemic recovery as supply chain bottlenecks eased.
On Friday, it reported a 34.6% jump in SEAT/CUPRA sales, a 6.7% rise in VW passenger car sales, and a 17.4% increase in sales at Audi, which had struggled to recover from the pandemic and hovered around the same sales figures since 2020.
Volkswagen’s proportion of battery-electric vehicle (EV) sales was lower than its German competitors at 8.3%, after it was forced to cut shifts and staffing at EV-producing plants late last year when demand was not developing as expected.
Data also indicated a challenging year in China, where the market share of its joint ventures with FAW and SAIC – including the VW, Audi, and Jetta brands – shrank from 14.8% to 14.2%, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
Volkswagen is due to release financial results on March 13.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Paolo Laudani Editing by Miranda Murray and Mark Potter
