Volkswagen sells more than 70,000 EVs in China in 2021, misses targets

Volkswagen AG announced that it sold about 70,625 of its ID electric vehicles in the world’s biggest automotive company last year. It had aimed to sell around 80,000 to 1,00,000 electric cars, said the company.

Volkswagen's China Chief Stephan Wollenstein stated that last year was a pretty difficult year for the company. Factors such as supply chain constraints including the ongoing global chip shortage impacted the automaker's production that kept it from attaining its ID sales goal added Wollenstein.

Volkswagen produces its ID series in joint ventures with SAIC Motor and FAW Group. The Chinese electric vehicle market was dominated by Tesla last year. Companies such as BYD, Wuling, Nio as well as Xpend also dominated a significant part of the market.

A recent report has also stated that China will cut subsidies on new energy vehicles (NEVs) such as electric vehicles by 30 per cent this year and plans to withdraw them all by the end of the year, conveyed the Finance Ministry. It also added that subsidies for NEVs for public transport will be cut by 20 per cent in 2022. The ministry also added China is going to tighten up supervision of NEV safety issues to prevent accidents.

On the other hand, Volkswagen is also gearing up to unveil its much-awaited ID.Buzz electric van on March 9. The electric van first made its appearance in 2017. This model is going to be the electric successor of the company's popular Microbus. Reportedly it has been said that the EV will come in three variants, passenger, ride pooling and ride-hailing.

Volkswagen aims to take the ID Buzz electric bus from concept vehicle towards mass production next year. It is being suspected that it is likely to hit the international dealerships in 2023.

(With inputs from Reuters)