BERLIN (XINHUA) – Global deliveries by the Volkswagen Group in January declined 15.2 per cent year-on-year to 699,500 vehicles, Germany’s largest carmaker said on Friday.
Deliveries in January to China, Volkswagen’s biggest market, decreased by 18.3 per cent to 342,500. In Western Europe, the carmaker said it had delivered 192,500 vehicles, a decline of 3.9 per cent.
All Volkswagen brands, except for commercial vehicle manufacturer Traton, recorded falling sales figures in January. Sales of the group’s core brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars declined 17.2 per cent to 402,300 vehicles.
Deliveries of cars by Volkswagen’s luxury brand Audi fell by 13 per cent to 135,400.
However, Volkswagen’s sports car brand Porsche only recorded a slight decline of 0.5 per cent to 24,300 vehicles.
Due to the global chip crisis, the German automotive industry continues to face difficulties obtaining microchips and electronic components, forcing companies to reduce or even temporarily halt production at plants.
Although Volkswagen expects this situation to stabilise during the year, the first half of the year is likely to remain “highly volatile and challenging owing to persistent supply bottlenecks for semiconductors”, the carmaker said.
