VW Group increases electric car sales by over 200%

The Volkswagen Group, through its main brands, has increased electric car sales by over 200% in 2020.

VW Group’s EV sales

2020 was a turning point in the Volkswagen Group’s electrification effort with sales of all-electric vehicles increasing by 214%, dwarfing plug-in hybrid sales.

VW sold 231,600 all-electric vehicles in 2020.

Dr. Christian Dahlheim, head of Volkswagen Group sales, commented:

The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 an extremely challenging year. The Volkswagen Group performed well in this environment and strengthened its market position. We are particularly pleased that we hit the ground running in our e-offensive in spite of the pandemic and thus took a big step forward in the implementation of our Together 2025⁺ strategy. We will keep up the momentum this year, adding many more attractive electric models.

Here are the top 5 best selling all-electric vehicles of the VW Group in 2020:

Volkswagen ID.3: 56,500 units
Audi e-tron: 47,300 units
Volkswagen e-Golf: 41,300 units
Volkswagen e-up!: 22,200 units
Porsche Taycan: 20,000 units

We just reported on Audi selling almost 50,000 e-tron electric SUVs in 2020 and Porsche selling more than 20,000 Taycan electric cars in its first year of production.

Those results were very good, but the VW ID.3 is the top contributing EV to the group’s results in 2020.

The e-Golf also had a good year, its last, as VW is moving the production capacity to the ID.3.

VW Group’s EV effort in 2021

As Dahlheim stated, this sets Volkswagen’s momentum in electric vehicles for 2021.

The Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron will move it along, but vehicles like the ID.3 should push it much higher.

VW is expected to ramp up production and deliveries in 2021, and the ID.4 will be added to the mix globally.

Several other Volkswagen-owned brands are also adding MEB-based electric vehicles in 2021, which could result in a similar three-digit growth rate in EV sales for the brand this year.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla still dominates when it comes to volume, but 231,600 EVs is still a good result that is solidifying VW as the legacy automaker most serious about transitioning to electric vehicles.

My confidence in them has been strong for years, and it stems from their early effort to secure battery cell supply. That’s the best way to see if an automaker is serious about achieving volume production of electric vehicles.

VW has been making great moves on that front, with supply deals with all the major cell suppliers and investment in new production from startups like Northvolt and QuantumScape.

These moves will enable them to grow their EVs significantly in the next few years.