What Happened
The German automaker said it delivered 263,000 all-electric vehicles to customers last year, a jump of 97 percent over 2020.The automaker said the ID.4 electric SUVs contributed about 45 percent of the total all-electric vehicle sales at 119,650 units last year, followed by 76,000 units of the ID.3 hatchback.
Including plug-in hybrids, total battery electric vehicle deliveries reached 369,000 units last year, a jump of 73 percent over 2020.
Volkswagen warned of persistent supply bottlenecks for semiconductors in the first six months and said it expects to be able to stabilize production as the year goes on.
Overall, including gas-powered cars, Volkswagen said it delivered a total of 4.8 million vehicles globally last year, a decline of 8 percent over 2020. The legacy automaker cited chip shortages for the decline in sales.
“Volkswagen achieved satisfactory sales under extremely challenging conditions,” said Klaus Zellmer, board member for sales and marketing at Volkswagen.
“Nonetheless, our record-breaking order backlog of 543,000 vehicles in Europe alone—thereof 95,000 IDs—shows clearly that the demand for Volkswagen vehicles continues to be very high.”
Volkswagen said deliveries of electric vehicles rose in the United States, China and Germany.
Why It Matters
Volkswagen started selling the ID.3 electric hatchback in 2020 and has since launched other models in the ID series, including the ID.4 and soon plans to launch ID.5, its first electric SUV “coupe.”In China, where it is the No. 1 automaker by sales, Volkswagen has set an ambitious sales target for its ID series and compete against a crop of local startups like Nio Inc. and Xpeng Inc..
The ID.4 competes with Tesla Inc.’s Model Y and Ford Motor Co.’s Mustang Mach-Es.
Volkswagen last year said it expects that, by 2026, one in four vehicles that it sells would have a battery-electric drive system
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