Volkswagen sold around 300,000 battery electric vehicles in 2022, up 24% year on year as it progressed with its transformation to e-mobility, the German automaker said Jan. 10.
VW delivered around 170,000 units of its all-electric ID. models in 2022, with the ID.4 being its top EV globally.
VW said it had delivered more than 580,000 models from the ID. family globally since September 2020.
In China, ID. model EV sales more than doubled to 143,100 units, while sales in North America rose 28% to 22,700 ID.4 models.
The ID.4 model was also the bestselling car in Sweden at around 8,900 units, VW said.
VW plans to introduce 10 new electric models by 2026.
Increased EV demand has been one factor keeping lithium prices strong. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed seaborne lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide at $74,200/mt CIF North Asia and $80,900/mt CIF North Asia Jan. 10, up 119.5% and 155.2%, respectively, since the start of 2022.
Total sales down 6.8%
Despite the rise in BEV sales, total Volkswagen brand sales dropped 6.8% to 4.56 million vehicles due to the strained supply situation, it said, adding that the order backlog remained high, with around 640,000 customers in Europe having placed orders for Volkswagen models across all drive types, which was up 18%.
“We achieved a solid sales result in 2022 despite persistent supply bottlenecks,” VW Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales Imelda Labbe said.
“We are doing our utmost to reduce delivery times for our customers still further and to lower the high order backlog as quickly as possible,” Labbe said.
VW noted that SUVs had been its fastest-growing market segment, with the share of SUVs in total deliveries rising to 45%, which was up 4% on the year, and SUVs making up more than 80% of total deliveries in the US.
Looking forward, VW said it expected 2023 to be “another volatile and challenging year due to persistent semiconductor supply bottlenecks” although it also expected a gradual improvement in the supply situation, with production due to stabilizing as the year progressed.
— Jacqueline Holman
