Having sold over 2.08 million cars this year in China alone, Volkswagen continues to see the importance of the market which managed to increase 8.7 percent on a year-on-year basis.
July was the time when it dropped by 27 percent to deliver 238,100 vehicles to China, but this mainly due to shortage in chip and electrical components related to the global supply chain issues faced by all manufacturers.
Due to the semiconductor supply shortage, Volkswagen Group China was “temporarily unable to match production to the high customer demand,” said a spokesperson for the group. The company expected the overall semiconductor supply situation to “gradually improve by the end of the year.”
Demand for VW in China has not wavered even amidst stiff competition from local and other foreign brands, the models continue to sell like hot cakes making the brand the number 1 preferred choice for the Chinese. The German automobile maker recovered its global sales by 19.2 percent to nearly 5.7 million units between January and July, with Mainland contributing a significant volume from that figure.
Yet again July is severely impacted for the group, all of the group’s brands reported declining deliveries. Sales of Skoda fell 30.9 percent to 75,000 units. The group’s core brand, Volkswagen, delivered 379,200 passenger cars in July, 21.6 percent less than in the same month last year.
The decline in sales of luxury brands Audi and Porsche, which have been less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic so far, was 8.9 and 6.9 percent, respectively.
If the shortage can be overcome, sales of vehicles could pick in later quarters, although in its financial report for the first half of the year, Volkswagen lowered its forecast for deliveries in 2021 but still expected them to be “noticeably up on the previous year amid continued challenging market conditions.
