The global shortage of semiconductors and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, Volkswagen has reported a 5.4% growth of sales revenue in Q1 CY2021 to €20 billion.
Sales of all-electric vehicles almost doubled and those of plug-in hybrids more than tripled during the said period, said a company release, which also noted that the operating profit increased sharply to € 900 million, which is almost at the level of the pre-crisis year 2019. Operating profit for the company had dropped to €481 million in 2020 primarily related to the pandemic.
Ralf Brandstätter, CEO, Volkswagen said the increases in all key performance indicators show that VW’s ACCELERATE strategy and rigorous cost management of the past months are gaining traction. “On the basis of that, we’ll systematically continue to drive our transformation with a focus on e-mobility and digitalisation,” he said.
Looking at sales numbers, in the first three months of the year, the brand almost doubled deliveries of BEVs to 30,700 units, accounting for a 95% growth YoY. The brand delivered 31,850 units of plug-in hybrids, which was 227% more vehicles compared with the same quarter of 2020. In total, VW delivered 1.36 million vehicles to customers worldwide in Q1, an increase of 25% over the prior-year period.
Deliveries in China made a particularly strong contribution with a 61% growth. The brand’s global market share rose by a total of 0.3 percentage points to 7.4%.
Positive Outlook
Volkswagen has earmarked around €16 billion for investment in the future trends of e-mobility, hybridisation and digitalisation up to 2025.
Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales at Volkswagen expressed confidence about the rest of the year, during which VW’s global e-offensive with the new models will continue to pick up momentum. The ID.41, in particular, had around 39,000 orders in Europe by the end of April.
The Volkswagen brand also confirmed its forecast for the current fiscal (up to December 2021). The brand anticipates a significant year-on-year increase in deliveries and sales revenue in 2021 and, despite the fact that the general economic conditions are growing tougher, still aims to post an operating return on sales in the target corridor between 3-4%, said the release.