Image: Volkswagen
Volkswagen on Wednesday announced global delivery numbers for the year 2021. The German automaker handed over more than 263,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to customers across the globe this past year, almost doubling the numbers from 2020 with a 97% increase year-over-year (YoY).
Volkswagen also delivered 106,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), up 33% as compared to 2020. The company’s electric division as a whole sold a little over 369,000 units, for a 73% growth YoY.
The veteran carmaker reported a total of 4.897 million vehicle sales across all drive systems globally, down 8% from 2020. Volkswagen cited the ongoing semiconductor shortage, which hasn’t been kind to almost all automakers, as the cause of the decline.
“Volkswagen is continuing to press ahead with the transition to e-mobility despite the limited supply of semiconductors,” said Volkswagen’s Ralf Brandstätter, who took on a portion of Herbet Diess’s responsibilities as CEO last month. “In a very short time, we have reached a top position for all-electric vehicles in Europe.”
In the company’s home market of Germany, one in four vehicles sold by Volkswagen was some kind of a plug-in EV, and the Volkswagen Golf took the crown for number one best-selling car in the country.
Volkswagen’s sales for 2021 were heavily limited by production which, in turn, was limited by supply constraints, and the company touted its all-time high backlog of orders as a testament to that.
“Our record-breaking order backlog of 543,000 vehicles in Europe alone – thereof 95,000 IDs – shows clearly that the demand for Volkswagen vehicles continues to be very high,” noted Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen.
Volkswagen last year announced plans to stop selling Internal Combustion Engine-powered cars in Europe by 2035. The automaker will invest in six new battery factories in the region by 2030 to help achieve that goal.
