Volkswagen have sold out of electric vehicles (EVs)for the year in Europe and the USA according to a feature in the Financial Times. This is because persistent supply chain bottlenecks have hit the German carmaker’s global production.
Volkswagen Group, who are the world’s second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer, have sold more than 99,000 electric vehicle models globally in the first quarter of 2022, but have been hit by shortages of semiconductors and wiring harnesses that are made in Ukraine.
Interestingly, Tesla, who are the market leader in electric vehicle sales, delivered more than three times as many electric cars, over 300,000 units, during the same period.
Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, has said demand has remained robust and the company had an order backlog in western Europe of 300,000 electric cars. Customers placing orders in Europe and the USA now would not get their electric models before 2023.
Volkswagen has also seen production hampered in China, which is the company’s largest market. Here, it sold 28,800 electric vehicles in the first quarter because of coronavirus lockdowns.
While these sales figures are four times higher than the same period in 2021, it has been hampering Volkswagen’s plans of delivering at least 140,000 electric vehicles in China in 2022. Diess said that while deliveries were weak earlier in the year in China they are now picking up.
Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, said: “We have very high order books and order intake on electric vehicles. That accounts for all of our models from ID.3, ID.4 and the Audi models.
“We are basically sold out on electric vehicles in Europe and in the United States. And in China, it’s really picking up.”
The production issues for Volkswagen, and most other electric vehicle manufacturers, are a shame, especially as the world is transitioning to electric cars at a quicker rate than ever before.
