VW Posts Lowest Sales in Over a Decade on Supply-Chain Issues

The disruptions were mostly concentrated in the first half of the year, when sales declined 22%, VW said. It said it was only able to partly offset the lower sales with a 12% increase in sales in the second half, as plants came back online and supply chains began to ease.

The auto industry has been struggling to recover from postpandemic supply-chain bottlenecks that have made it hard for many manufacturers to keep production going. With global auto sales still below prepandemic levels, manufacturers now face new economic headwinds. 

VW’s shares were 0.6% higher on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Thursday.

In the face of such challenges, VW’s sales last year were the lowest since 2010, when they totaled 7.3 billion euros, equivalent to $7.9 billion.

Only Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley,

Traton,

VW’s truck business and Navistar, its U.S. truck unit, posted sales growth. Deliveries declined at all other brands.

Sales at Porsche, which VW listed on the market in September, rose 2.6% to 309,900 vehicles. 

The group of mass-market brands that VW calls its “volume brands”—VW, Skoda, Seat and VW utility vehicles—reported a 9% decline in sales to just over six million vehicles. 

Audi, the company’s luxury brand, sold 1.6 million vehicles last year, down 3.9% from a year earlier, and well behind its main rivals,

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

and

Mercedes-Benz Group AG

.

Heading into the new year, Hildegard Wortmann, VW’s sales chief, said the company had a strong backlog of orders for new vehicles to fill.

“That gives us confidence for 2023, despite the weakening economy and ongoing supply bottlenecks,” she said, adding that supply chains should ease during the course of the year.

In China, sales fell nearly 4% to 3.2 million vehicles last year. In Western Europe, its second-largest market, sales fell 5% to 2.9 million vehicles.

In North America, VW sales totaled 842,600 vehicles, down 7% from a year earlier. Sales in South America fell 8% to 473,700 vehicles.

The steepest decline in sales was in Central and Eastern Europe due to the war in Ukraine. VW said sales plunged 33% in the region to 441,900 vehicles.

The company posted no growth in sales in any of its major markets with the exception of parts of the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose 8% to 329,500 vehicles.

VW said it sold 572,100 fully electric vehicles worldwide last year, up 26%, with the strongest growth in China.

Mercedes-Benz Group earlier this week said vehicle retail sales fell 1% to two million vehicles, while sales of fully electric cars rose 124% to 117,800 vehicles. 

BMW, the Munich-based luxury-car maker, said global new car sales fell 5% to 2.4 million vehicles, but that sales of electric models more than doubled to 215,755 vehicles. 

Write to William Boston at [email protected]

The disruptions were mostly concentrated in the first half of the year, when sales declined 22%, VW said. It said it was only able to partly offset the lower sales with a 12% increase in sales in the second half, as plants came back online and supply chains began to ease.

The auto industry has been struggling to recover from postpandemic supply-chain bottlenecks that have made it hard for many manufacturers to keep production going. With global auto sales still below prepandemic levels, manufacturers now face new economic headwinds. 

VW’s shares were 0.6% higher on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Thursday.

In the face of such challenges, VW’s sales last year were the lowest since 2010, when they totaled 7.3 billion euros, equivalent to $7.9 billion.

Only Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley,

Traton,

VW’s truck business and Navistar, its U.S. truck unit, posted sales growth. Deliveries declined at all other brands.

Sales at Porsche, which VW listed on the market in September, rose 2.6% to 309,900 vehicles. 

The group of mass-market brands that VW calls its “volume brands”—VW, Skoda, Seat and VW utility vehicles—reported a 9% decline in sales to just over six million vehicles. 

Audi, the company’s luxury brand, sold 1.6 million vehicles last year, down 3.9% from a year earlier, and well behind its main rivals,

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

and

Mercedes-Benz Group AG

.

Heading into the new year, Hildegard Wortmann, VW’s sales chief, said the company had a strong backlog of orders for new vehicles to fill.

“That gives us confidence for 2023, despite the weakening economy and ongoing supply bottlenecks,” she said, adding that supply chains should ease during the course of the year.

In China, sales fell nearly 4% to 3.2 million vehicles last year. In Western Europe, its second-largest market, sales fell 5% to 2.9 million vehicles.

In North America, VW sales totaled 842,600 vehicles, down 7% from a year earlier. Sales in South America fell 8% to 473,700 vehicles.

The steepest decline in sales was in Central and Eastern Europe due to the war in Ukraine. VW said sales plunged 33% in the region to 441,900 vehicles.

The company posted no growth in sales in any of its major markets with the exception of parts of the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose 8% to 329,500 vehicles.

VW said it sold 572,100 fully electric vehicles worldwide last year, up 26%, with the strongest growth in China.

Mercedes-Benz Group earlier this week said vehicle retail sales fell 1% to two million vehicles, while sales of fully electric cars rose 124% to 117,800 vehicles. 

BMW, the Munich-based luxury-car maker, said global new car sales fell 5% to 2.4 million vehicles, but that sales of electric models more than doubled to 215,755 vehicles. 

Write to William Boston at [email protected]