Volkswagen sold fewer cars of its core VW brand last year.

Sales shrank by 1.4 percent to 4.8 million vehicles, as the company announced on Thursday. The decline was especially steep in China, while business in North and South America was better. Sales chief Martin Sander spoke of a difficult year and pointed to strong competition, especially in China.

The rapid rise of electric cars in China caught VW and other Western manufacturers on the wrong foot. According to the Chinese industry association, in 2024 almost half of all cars sold in the People's Republic were electric or hybrid, and in these drive types, domestic manufacturers such as BYD, Geely or Xiaomi are ahead. At the same time, a price war is raging, putting massive pressure on margins. Overall, the Chinese car market grew by 5.3 percent in 2024, with 23.1 million vehicles sold. Volkswagen, on the other hand, sold almost 2.2 million cars, 8.3 percent fewer than in the previous year.

In Europe, the Wolfsburg-based company sold 1.25 million cars, 1.7 percent fewer than in the previous year. By contrast, sales in North America and South America were significantly better, with deliveries there increasing by 18.4 percent to 592,300 vehicles and sales in South America rising by 21.1 percent to almost 479,400 cars.

Sales of electric cars were down on 2023: 383,100 electric cars were delivered to customers worldwide in 2024, compared to 394,000 in the previous year. With the exception of China, demand for electric cars is currently weakening worldwide.

(Report by Christina Amann. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at Berlin.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or Frankfurt.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)

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