German automaker Volkswagen Group says it delivered 99,100 battery electric vehicles during the first quarter and has an order book of around 300,000 vehicles in Western Europe alone.
“Demand for our all-electric vehicles is very high worldwide and our order books are thus well filled,” said Hildegard Wortmann, a member of the Group board of management for sales.
“The increase in BEV deliveries would have been significantly higher had it not been for the current supply bottlenecks.
“We are counting on additional highly attractive models and a successive improvement of the semiconductor situation to provide additional tailwind as the year progresses. We continue to have our sights firmly set on a BEV share of 7 to 8 percent for the full year.”
The first-quarter deliveries of all battery electric vehicles (BEVs) was well up on the 60,000 delivered in the first quarter of 2021 – though, as will continue to be the case for a while, the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic may muddle the significance of these numbers somewhat.
European deliveries remained strong and Volkswagen’s largest market, with 58,400 BEVs delivered in the first quarter, accounting for 59% of the company’s total BEVs delivered.
But the biggest increase was seen in China, which saw deliveries of 28,800, a more than four-fold increase over the first quarter of 2021, accounting for 29% of all VW BEV deliveries. Meanwhile, deliveries in the United States amounted to 7,900 BEVs for the quarter.
Volkswagen Group BEV numbers include all BEVs delivered by the company’s various sub-brands – including Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche.
Through the first quarter, the core brand Volkswagen delivered 53,400 BEVs to customers, accounting for a 54% share of the Group’s total, with 30,300 units of the VW ID.4 delivered to customers and 13,000 units of the VW ID.3.
Audi delivered a total of 24,200 BEVs, accounting for a 24% of the Group’s total BEVs delivered, with 10,700 units of the Audi Q4 e-tron (including Sportback) delivered and 10,300 units of the Audi e-tron (including Sportback).
Porsche delivered a total of 9,500 BEVs, accounting for a share of 10% of the Group, all of which were the Porsche Taycan (including the Cross Turismo), while Skoda delivered 8,800 BEVs and SEAT/CUPRA delivered 2,200 BEVs.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.