HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) – Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle division saw a drop in sales last year. The company delivered 401,000 vehicles worldwide across all model lines, a decrease of 2.1 percent compared to the previous year, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) announced in Hannover. Significant declines were recorded for the best-selling VW Transporter and the Amarok pickup. In contrast, the two models manufactured in Hannover, the ID. Buzz and the Multivan, saw notable increases.
Deliveries of the electric ID. Buzz doubled to just over 60,000 units, while Multivan sales rose by about a third to nearly 39,000 vehicles. Both figures represent new record highs. The Caddy and Crafter models, which VW produces at its Polish plant, also saw slight gains. However, these increases could not fully offset the declines in the Transporter and Amarok. Both of these models were developed in collaboration with Ford and are also manufactured there.
“With the ID. Buzz, we hold almost a 25 percent market share in its segment of fully electric vehicles in Europe,” brand chief Stefan Mecha told “Automobilwoche” in an interview. But market share alone is not enough. “What matters for the capacity utilization and cost structure of our plants are absolute volumes – and those fall short of expectations when the overall market does not grow.”/fjo/DP/men
