Despite the challenging market environment, the Volkswagen brand delivered 5.328 million vehicles to customers worldwide in 2020 (down 15 per cent from a year earlier). Among them, Volkswagen brand sales fell only 2% in December from the very good sales figures for the same period in 2019. "despite the restrictions on car trade caused by the epidemic, we have maintained our global market share and even expanded our market share in some markets," said Klaus Zellmer, a board member responsible for sales of the Volkswagen passenger car brand.
Volkswagen passenger cars have achieved phased success in the process of transition to electric vehicles. Ralf Brandst ä tter, CEO of Volkswagen passenger cars, said, "2020 is a turning point for the Volkswagen brand and marks a breakthrough for Volkswagen in the field of electric travel." Last year, Volkswagen delivered more than 212000 electric vehicles worldwide, up 158% from a year earlier, of which sales of pure electric vehicles were nearly 134000, up 19.7% from a year earlier. "We are moving towards becoming a market leader in pure electric vehicles," said Brandst ä tter. Compared with other companies, we prefer attractive and reasonably priced electric cars. "
ID.3 has become the best-selling electric car in many European countries.
Volkswagen launched nine new electric and plug-in hybrids in 2020, raising the proportion of pure electric and plug-in hybrids to 12.4 per cent of the brand's total delivery in Europe, up from 2.3 per cent in 2019. The ID.3 is Volkswagen's most popular car in Europe, and although it only went on sale last September, it has sold 56500 vehicles. E-Golf sales were not far behind, with 41300 vehicles sold. The Passat GTE came in third with sales of about 24000 vehicles.
The ID.3 is scheduled to reach 68800 vehicles in 2020, and more than 56500 vehicles have been delivered to customers, including about 14400 German customers. In fact, in December, the ID.3 was the most delivered electric car in Finland, Slovenia and Norway; in Sweden, the ID.3 was the best-selling car in December. In the Netherlands and Germany, Volkswagen passenger cars are the best-selling pure electric car brands in 2020, of which Volkswagen passenger cars account for 23.8% of the pure electric car market in Germany and 23% in the Netherlands.
Volkswagen's breakthrough in electric travel is also evident in German fleet sales, with fleet orders for pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rising to about 22 per cent from 2 per cent in 2018 and 5 per cent in 2019.
ID.4 and plug-in hybrids are additional drivers of sales growth
After the launch of Volkswagen ID.3, Volkswagen's second pure electric model, ID.4, was also successfully launched. This is the brand's first pure electric car sold around the world, and as a SUV model, it is also in line with customer trends. In 2020, SUV accounted for 34.8% of global deliveries of Volkswagen brands, up from 29.8% in 2019. "We plan to continue to increase global market share in 2021, and in addition to the hybrid offensive that begins in 2020, new pure electric models will also play a role," Klaus Zellmer said.
