German automaker Volkswagen has reported its full-year 2023 delivery numbers, featuring more deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) than ever before. Still, the company remains far off from the world’s top EV seller, though the company has emphasized that its products are heading in the right direction.
In a press release shared on Tuesday, Volkswagen reported 394,000 BEV deliveries worldwide in 2023, marking a 21.1 percent increase year over year. The automaker reached 4.87 million vehicle deliveries overall, meaning the company’s BEV deliveries represented roughly 8 percent of its total sales.
Despite the ratio of BEVs to all of its vehicles being somewhat small, Volkswagen highlights in the release that the figure represents a continued interest in the emerging technology from its consumers.
“The delivery figures show that we are on the right track as a brand and that our cars are well received by our customers,” said Imelda Labbé, Volkswagen Board Member for sales, marketing and after sales. “We expect the market environment to remain challenging in 2024. But with our revised and attractive product portfolio, we are in the right position.”
The company is also entering 2024 with optimism surrounding its upcoming models. Notably, Volkswagen says it plans to launch the ID.7 Tourer, its “estate version” of the ID.7, this year, along with the next-generation of the Golf, and updated drive systems and operating concepts for its previously available ID.4 and ID.5 BEVs.
As for key markets in 2023, Volkswagen says it sold the most BEVs in China, Germany, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Norway and Belgium. A key highlight for BEV sales was in Germany, where the brand sold roughly 30,000 ID.4 units for a 62.9 percent jump year over year.
Worldwide, Volkswagen fell behind many BEV makers, while it still outpaced some traditional gas car manufacturers. By comparison, BEV market leader Tesla sold over 1.8 million vehicles globally in 2023, while BYD reported around 1.6 million BEVs sold, with many of its over 3 million vehicle sales coming from plugin hybrids and gas cars (via Reuters).
Behind Volkswagen were traditional gas automakers and some startup BEV makers that are still ramping up production. For example, Ford reported 72,608 BEVs sold in 2023, up 18 percent year over year, while electric truck manufacturer Rivian delivered 50,122 units.
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