The Volkswagen-Group achieved an increase in sales for almost all of its brands in 2023. Only the luxury car makers Lamborghini and Bentley as well as the South American commercial vehicle brand Volkswagen Truck & Bus recorded declining sales, as the Wolfsburg-based car maker announced on Friday.
Overall, the group’s sales increased last year by almost 12 percent to a good 9.2 million vehicles. VW boss Oliver Blume (55) said it was positive that all major brands and all regions were growing. Despite the numerous challenges, his company is well positioned for the current year with numerous new products.
This week Mercedes-Benz and BWM also presented figures for 2023. While weak sales in the fourth quarter spoiled Mercedes’ annual balance sheet – the car manufacturer sold 2.04 million cars in 2023, about as much as in the previous year – was able to BMW increase by 6.5 percent. The Munich-based company sold 2.56 million cars last year.
Mercedes has at least recorded major growth in fully electric cars (BEVs). Sales here grew by 61 percent to 240,600 cars. That was a share of almost 12 percent of total sales after a good 7 percent in the previous year. BMW is further ahead here too: for the Munich-based company, purely battery-powered cars accounted for 15 percent of sales. In the Volkswagen Group, however, the share of electric cars in total sales is only 8.3 percent.
Seat/Cupra, Skoda and Audi are strong – luxury brands are weakening
Among the VW brands, Seat/Cupra stood out in particular with a sales increase of a good third, followed by Skoda with an increase of 18.5 percent and Audi with an increase of 17.4 percent. Even if Audi’s numbers are correct, the future prospects are rather bleak. Audi hasn’t brought a new model onto the market for around three years, and its share of the electric car market is in China is vanishingly small. Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume even hinted in small groups that that Audi is a problem for the entire group – perhaps even bigger than the faltering core brand VW
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Sales of larger commercial vehicles also increased. Traton sold a total of almost eleven percent more trucks and buses than a year ago. Better parts supply at MAN played a particularly important role: the German brand achieved an increase of a good third. In 2022, MAN’s production lines stood still for weeks because cable harnesses from the Eastern European country were missing after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war.