Volkswagen, which is the second largest carmaker in the world after Japan’s Toyota, has faced problems worse than, for example, German luxury car manufacturers.
Overall, Asia Pacific was the only growth region, excluding the most important market there, which is China. During the year, however, the business stabilized noticeably – for example, in December, global sales increased by 18.1 percent in sales statistics, in China by almost 23 percent and in Western Europe by almost 18 percent.
While global sales increased by 12 percent in the second half of the year, they fell by more than a fifth in the first half. The problem was the war in Ukraine, which disrupted supply chains, and factories in China closed due to the pandemic. In the second part of the year, the pandemic measures in China have already been relaxed a little.
Sales of electric cars increased
At the same time, Volkswagen said on Thursday that it has maintained its position as Europe’s leading manufacturer of electric cars with batteries. The concern did very well in the area of sales of electric cars. Compared to the previous year, their sales increased by 26 percent to more than 572,000 vehicles. Volkswagen said 6.9 percent of all vehicles delivered were pure electric vehicles, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous year.
According to Hildegard Wortmann, a member of the business committee, the company believes in itself until 2023. This despite a weakening macroeconomic environment and persistent supply chain deficiencies.
Škoda Auto delivered fewer cars last year. Due to war and lack of parts
Economic
