WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The carmaker Volkswagen sold slightly fewer cars of its core brand VW Passenger Cars last year than in the previous year. Worldwide deliveries fell by 1.4 percent to around 4.8 million vehicles, the Wolfsburg-based company announced. Sales declined in particular in China, VW's most important market. Sales of electric cars also weakened. The VW share, which is listed on the Dax, lost 0.8 percent in the morning in a weak industry environment.
"2024 was a difficult year worldwide, with a weak economy, political challenges and strong competition, particularly in China," said sales chief Martin Sander. Almost 2.2 million vehicles of the VW brand were delivered there, 8.3 percent fewer than in the previous year. In Europe, sales fell by 1.7 percent to 1.25 million vehicles. "Nevertheless, we are starting the new year with optimism," Sander added.
SUVs increasingly in demand – electric cars not
The VW brand saw growth in both North (plus 18 percent) and South America (plus 21 percent). The best-selling model was once again the Tiguan SUV, followed by the T-Roc. Overall, almost half of all new VW cars (47 percent) were SUVs. According to VW, the share of all sales increased by a further 1.4 percentage points compared to 2023.
By contrast, there was a decline in electric cars. Worldwide, 383,000 electric models of the ID family were delivered last year. In 2023, according to earlier figures, the figure was still around 394,000. A total of around 1.35 million ID models have been sold since the ID family went into production at the end of 2019.
Shortly before Christmas, the company and the trade union agreed, after a long struggle, on a restructuring program for the ailing core brand that envisages cutting 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. The reduction is to be achieved without any redundancies. The technical capacity of the German plants is to be reduced by over 700,000 vehicles, as the plants have so far only been operating at low capacity./fjo/DP/men