NEWS

Beijing, July 15, 2022. Volkswagen Group China and its Chinese joint venture partners delivered around 1.47 million vehicles (-20.5% YoY) in Mainland China and Hong Kong in the first six months of 2022. The Group’s performance was heavily impacted by prolonged COVID-19 restrictions that caused closures of plants, specifically in our two local production centers Changchun and Shanghai, supply bottlenecks, and a slump in sales. However, easing restrictions nationwide and the lifting of the Shanghai lockdown in June facilitated rapid performance improvement upon resumption of normal operations, enabling Volkswagen Group China and the Volkswagen Brand to retain their leading market position. In June, the Group delivered approximately 340,800 units, a 27.2% increase compared to the previous year and a 47% increase MoM, indicating immense pent-up consumer demand post-COVID-19 outbreak. The BEV market continued to trend strongly, up 462% for Volkswagen Brand models and 247% across all Group brands in the year to-date.

Dr. Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO Volkswagen Group China, said: “Despite challenges, Volkswagen Group showed financial resilience in the first six months of 2022 and is operating from a position of strength. Our strong catch-up plan has now fully kicked into gear. We have already seen a resurgence in consumer demand in June and see indicators for a sales surge in the second half of the year. We are even more ambitious in the NEV market, aiming to more than double our ID. sales in 2022. Our top priority now is to restore consumer confidence and ensure stable production and supply chains. We believe the recovery is already fully underway and are optimistic about our performance in the second half of this year, if the pandemic situation does not worsen and the general semiconductor shortage situation continues to improve.”

Alongside a resurgence of consumer demand, many of Volkswagen Group China‘s vehicles were eligible for stimulus provided by the purchase tax reduction for combustion vehicles, which came into effect on June 1 and made up for some of the impacts of COVID-19-related market losses in the second quarter.

Overall, Volkswagen and its JETTA sub-brand delivered 1,081,700 (-18.8%) vehicles in Mainland China and Hong Kong for the first half of the year. The brand has maintained its position as the number one choice for Chinese car buyers, despite being heavily impacted by the pandemic in the past months, which resulted in production not meeting customer demand. Amidst this disruptive environment, the Volkswagen brand continues its transformation towards e-mobility at full speed, doubling its deliveries of NEVs compared to H1 2021 (+107.4%), with over 75,900 units (2021 H1: 36,600). The purely electric ID. family was a strong contributing factor, with 59,400 cars delivered, while the delivery of over 17,600 ID. family models in June alone marks a new monthly sales record. The JETTA sub-brand continued its upward trend with deliveries of 76,700 units (+3.9%).

Audi in China delivered 319,558 vehicles to customers in China in H1 2022. Despite the ongoing semiconductor shortages and the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks, the continued strong appeal of Audi brand products was evident in June 2022, when demand increased by 15.6% over the previous year with over 78,726 units delivered. This momentum will continue as Audi advances its transformation under the global ‘Vorsprung 2030 Strategy’. Audi is moving full speed ahead to expand its product portfolio in China, including the Audi Q6 and BEV models such as the Audi Q4 e-tron and Audi RS e-tron GT which will greet Chinese customers later this year.

ŠKODA delivered 24,700 cars to Chinese customers in the first half of 2022, as the brand’s model availability and dealer network were severely affected by the pandemic situation in Shanghai and other cities. In June, the ŠKODA best-seller OCTAVIA celebrated its 15th anniversary in China market with a total delivery of 1.45 million cars and the city SUV KAMIQ celebrated its fourth anniversary since market launch, winning 150,000 Chinese customers.

Porsche was able to deliver 40,681 vehicles to customers in spite of months-long lockdowns in some cities. New car sales in the second quarter increased by 30% sequentially. And both deliveries and order intakes in June showed double-digit growth year-on-year, marking an important turnaround point for Porsche China on the way to getting back on track.