China boosts Volkswagen sales again in the first quarter

Volkswagen once again benefited from business in China in the first quarter of the year. According to its own information, Europe's largest carmaker handed over 2.43 million vehicles to customers worldwide. That was a good fifth more than a year ago. In the People's Republic alone, sales increased by more than 60 percent. China accounted for 41 percent of sales between January and the end of March. The significant increase is mainly due to the fact that the Chinese car market collapsed in the same period of the previous year due to the Corona crisis. The market has now recovered and is growing strongly, as China has the coronavirus largely under control. In North and South America, sales increased by 16.1 and 10.3 percent. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Wolfsburg-based company sold 17.1 percent more cars. In Western Europe, however, the Dax group had to post a minus. In view of the simmering pandemic, sales fell by 4.6 percent. Of the brands, the premium manufacturers Audi and Porsche achieved a significant plus of around a third each. Volkswagen passenger cars saw an increase of 24.6 percent to just under 1.1 million vehicles. MAN and Scania trucks saw a quarterly increase of a good 34 and almost 27 percent respectively. At Skoda, however, the increase was lower (7.2 percent), Seat even came to a minus of 3.7 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Volkswagen is planning the world premiere of the ID.6 electric SUV, which is manufactured in China, at the international car exhibition in Shanghai next week in China. Electromobility is an important topic at the fair. When the annual figures were presented in mid-March, VW announced that it wanted to catch up with its core brand with further e-cars and digital projects after the tough Corona year 2020. However, the shadow of the supply crisis for electronic chips is likely to linger on the manufacturer and many of its competitors for a while. The economic development also harbors risks for demand. Basically, the main division of the largest European car company was confident. In 2021, "a significant increase" in deliveries will be targeted, said brand boss Ralf Brandstätter at the time. The company also wants sales to be significantly higher than in 2020. The target is to sell 450,000 electric and hybrid cars in 2021. VW is also relying on the small SUV ID.4, which will be launched these days. The ID.5 Coupé will be added in the second half of the year, and the larger ID.6 SUV this summer, which will only be launched in China. Further digital services are also planned - a subscription model is to be tested in six cities.