Every success story has to start somewhere: When Volkswagen founded the Centre for Future Research in 1970, Adolf Kalberlah’s task was to develop the “powertrain of the future”. Together with his ten-man team, the electrochemist and battery research expert forged ahead with developments for a battery-powered system. Two years later, the brand’s first electric vehicle hit the streets: the T2 campervan with electric drive. Electromobility was up and running at Volkswagen.
Rising BEV Sales Figures
Volkswagen is
Europe’s Electric Champion
Volkswagen’s electric offensive is in full swing. And the results are plain to see. The main reason behind this success is the ID. family. The rising number of sales of its electric cars has made Volkswagen the top brand in Europe and earned it the number one spot when it comes to specific models in some European markets.
This was followed in 1976 by the first electric Golf. By the 1990s, small batches of three generations of the Golf CitySTROMer had been produced. Development continued, but it was not yet time for electric cars to go mainstream. That was to change a few decades later: In 2009, Volkswagen presented its first electric car for mass production: the e-up! – a concept car that was introduced to the public at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt am Main. It went on sale in 2013, after the first 29 cars had already been delivered the year before. To date, Volkswagen has delivered almost half a million battery electric vehicles (BEV), of which roughly 250,000 were ID. models. And there ends the abridged version.
Volkswagen’s first production model with an electric powertrain: the e-up!
ID. family provides rapid growth
Recent developments, in particular, have highlighted the fundamental shift from combustion engines to e-mobility: In the past two years, the number of global deliveries of Volkswagen electric cars has more than quadrupled. Whereas 45,114 were on record in 2019, this figure had risen as high as 225,704 for the period of January to November 2021 alone. As well as the increase in demand, this huge growth is also largely down to the introduction of the ID. family. The compact ID.3 and the electric SUV ID.4 are bestselling BEVs. Like all the models in the ID. family, they are based on a newly developed electric architecture, the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). Its benefits: long ranges, plenty of space in the interior, strong performance.
By November 2021, the ID.3 had been sold and delivered 124,287 times. Bestselling models like the ID.3 and the ID.4 have made Volkswagen the top brand in Europe.
From newcomer to besteller: The ID.4 is in high demand, both nationally and internationally.
Between January and September 2021, 120,086 of the manufacturer’s electric vehicles were registered in Europe – that is 139.1 percent more than the previous year. When it comes to specific models, after the first three quarters of the year, the Volkswagen ID.3 takes second place, beaten only by the Tesla Model 3. The ID.4, which hit the market later, is fourth overall and is already the bestselling electric vehicle in Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden.
There is no end in sight for this success story, as the market for electric vehicles continues to grow rapidly. For example, roughly 36,000 BEVs were registered in Germany in 2018 (market share: 1.0 percent). That figure is now seven times higher: This year in Germany, there were 267,653 registrations from January up to and including October. The market share of all-electric cars had risen to 12.2 percent.
Volkswagen is on the offensive in China with the ID.6 CROZZ and the ID.6 X.
Big plans in the key market China
Figures of a totally different magnitude are being generated in China – the largest market for electric vehicles. Here, 1.776 million e-cars were sold between January and October. In the third quarter alone, BEV sales figures hit 782,000. Compared to last year, this is an increase of 190 percent.
For Volkswagen, this high demand represents a big opportunity. As such, the brand is forging ahead with its electric offensive in China. As well as the ID.3 and ID.4, the ID.6, which was developed specifically for the Chinese market, is another important element as Volkswagen looks to become the most sought-after brand for sustainable mobility in the Middle Kingdom too.
ID. BUZZ is the next highlight in the model offensive
However, the model offensive continues at pace in these parts too. After the ID.3 and the ID.4, the all-wheel drive ID.4 GTX – the first all-electric performance model under Volkswagen’s GTX label – celebrated its world premiere in April 2021.
E-offensive with a wide range of models: the ID.5 GTX combines performance and space.
Furthermore, November saw the start of pre-sales for Volkswagen’s first electric SUV coupé with extended range: the ID.5. The ID. family’s top model in the European market is also available with four-wheel drive as a GTX. Another highlight will follow in 2022: the ID. BUZZ. With the all-electric van – the successor to the iconic Bulli campervan – Volkswagen is ensuring it is also ready for the future of electromobility in this segment.
way to ZERO sets the tone
The electrification of the new car fleet is a central component of the decarbonisation programme ‘way to ZERO’. The goal is for at least 70 percent of Volkswagen sales in Europe – that is well over one million vehicles – to be electric cars by 2030. In North America and China, the target is for electric vehicles to make up least 50 percent of sales.
World premiere of the ID. LIFE study in Munich: Opening another chapter in the Volkswagen success story.
In order to achieve these goals, Volkswagen plans to launch at least one new electric model per year. The company gave an insight into this a few months ago with its ID. LIFE study. The compact car will be available as soon as 2025 – two years earlier than originally planned. Prices will start at around € 20,000. The study was presented at the IAA MOBILITY 2021 in Munich – almost 50 years after the electric-powered Bulli T2 first saw the light of day.
