VW ID buzz
Sales figures for the Volkswagen brand fell by 0.9 percent to 412,100 in July.
(Photo: dpa)
The Volkswagen Group also sold fewer cars in China in July than a year earlier. Sales in what is normally the most important market for Volkswagen fell by 10.2 percent to 260,400 vehicles, as the carmaker announced in Wolfsburg on Friday.
The company explained the decline with the tax incentives that the government in Beijing used last year to boost the auto industry after the Covid lockdowns. The overall market in China also shrank in July. In the first seven months of the year, Volkswagen sales in China lagged behind the previous year’s level by 2.7 percent.
In July, VW sold 773,400 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide, 6.6 percent more than a year earlier. Western Europe, where the group increased sales by 21 percent, was primarily responsible for the growth.
With growth of a good quarter to 1.92 million vehicles, the home region of VW China has so far lagged behind as the largest market this year. From January to July, 5.15 million vehicles from the Wolfsburg-based group were sold worldwide, 11.8 percent more than a year earlier.
Volkswagen lowered its expectations for the year as a whole in July: Due to the shaky economy and logistics bottlenecks, the carmaker only expects to sell 9 to 9.5 (8.3) million vehicles in 2023, up to half a million fewer than before planned.
The Volkswagen brand showed weakness in July, with sales falling by 0.9 percent to 412,100. The low-cost brands Skoda and Seat/Cupra, on the other hand, made strong gains. The luxury class subsidiary Audi was up 14.7 percent. The sports car manufacturer Porsche, on the other hand, sold 7.2 percent less.
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