Volkswagen sales hit decade low in 2021

German automobile giant Volkswagen Group on Wednesday has said that it has posted its lowest sales numbers in ten years in 2021 with around 4.9 million vehicles delivered. The automaker also expects that its sales performance might be impacted in the first half of this year due to a volatile supply chain.

Volkswagen says that its sales in 2021 dropped by 8.1 per cent to just under 4.9 million units. The slump is majorly attributed to the drop in sales in China, one of the most important markets for the automaker. Volkswagen claims that its sales in China slumped by 14.8 per cent last year.

However, Volkswagen also claimed that the electric vehicles sales of the brand quadrupled in the Chinese market. Overall, the automaker witnessed its electric vehicle sales have gained momentum across the world with rising demand for new energy vehicles. The other factors that played key roles behind this EV sales growth for Volkswagen include the rising price of petrol and diesel, tightening emission regulations across the world, upcoming bans on fossil fuel vehicles.

The massive chip crisis that disrupted the global auto industry for several months too impacted Volkswagen's overall sales performance by affecting production and delaying deliveries.

While the petrol and diesel vehicle sales of Volkswagen have witnessed a slump around the world, battery-electric vehicles have shown light to the automaker. The BEVs constituted 5.1 per cent of total deliveries, doubling last year's number. However, this was just a fraction of the German carmaker's 2030 target of 50 per cent sales from battery electric vehicles.

The reasons behind the growth of electric vehicle sales include increasing parity between EVs and traditional ICE vehicles, lowering of the lithium-ion battery prices, growing awareness about vehicular emission and its impact on global warming.

Speaking about Volkswagen's 2021 sales performance, the automaker's sales and marketing chief Klaus Zellmer said that under unusually challenging circumstances, Volkswagen reached a satisfying sales result. "However, the huge effects of chips on production were not able to be fully compensated," he further added.