Volkswagen AG reported a 14.3% year-over-year drop in global vehicle deliveries for the third quarter, marking the German automotive group’s sharpest quarterly contraction in more than four years.
The downturn was driven primarily by a severe sales slump in China, Volkswagen’s largest market, alongside broader headwinds in global demand and mounting pressure from domestic electric vehicle manufacturers in Asia.
According to company data reported on Monday, Volkswagen moved 1.89 million vehicles globally during the three-month period. The performance represents the manufacturer’s steepest quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2022, when global deliveries fell by 22.4%.
Deepening Sales Slump in China
The decline was most severe in China, where Volkswagen’s delivery volumes collapsed by 38.5% year-over-year during the third quarter. The quarterly drop extends a sustained period of weakness in the region; over the first nine months of the year, Volkswagen’s deliveries in China contracted by 30.2%.
“The sharp decline in the overall market in China remains an industry-wide challenge,” said Martin Sander, a member of Volkswagen Group’s extended executive committee, in an official statement.
Beyond China, Volkswagen experienced softer demand across several key geographic regions during the quarter:
- North America: Vehicle deliveries decreased by 5.8%.
- Western Europe: Vehicle deliveries fell by 2.8%.
- Central and Eastern Europe: Deliveries increased by 1.4%, representing a rare area of growth for the automaker.
Battery-Electric Vehicle Contraction
The group’s battery-electric vehicle (BEV) segment also registered a global pullback. Worldwide deliveries of BEVs slipped approximately 5% during the third quarter.
The decline in global electric vehicle deliveries occurred despite a positive performance in Europe, where Volkswagen posted an uptick of nearly 20% in BEV deliveries over the same period. However, strong European demand was insufficient to offset softening appetite for electric models in China and accelerating competition from local Chinese automakers.
European Automotive Industry Headwinds
Volkswagen is the latest in a series of major German and European automakers to report deteriorating operational conditions in China. In the week preceding Volkswagen’s report, luxury brands Porsche and Mercedes-Benz both reported weaker delivery figures driven by regional headwinds in the Chinese market.
The broader operational challenges in China have begun impacting earnings expectations and forward guidance across the European automotive sector.
In early October, Sweden’s Volvo Cars formally withdrew its full-year sales volume and cash flow guidance following an 11% year-over-year sales drop in the third quarter, delivering 141,609 vehicles. Volvo Cars attributed the decline in part to worsening conditions in China, warning that the developments would exert a significant negative impact on its third-quarter core earnings and cash flow.
Citing elevated market uncertainty, Volvo Cars stated it would refrain from issuing updated short-term forward-looking statements until publishing its full third-quarter financial results on Oct. 23.
Source: mexicobusiness.news
