Despite full order books, the major German manufacturers delivered fewer vehicles to their customers in 2022. Will the supply bottlenecks get smaller this year and the delivery times shorter?
VW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW sold fewer cars last year than in the previous year. It was not due to demand – a lack of semiconductors and corona lockdowns in China slowed sales. The car manufacturers were very reluctant to comment on the current year.
Volkswagen
The Volkswagen core brand VW Passenger Cars delivered 4.56 million cars worldwide last year – 7 percent less than in the previous year. “Despite ongoing supply bottlenecks, we achieved a solid sales target in 2022,” said sales manager Imelda Labbé on Tuesday. VW made progress with fully electric vehicles: sales rose by a quarter to 330,000 battery cars.
The current year will remain “volatile and challenging due to ongoing supply bottlenecks in semiconductors,” VW announced. However, the company expects a gradual improvement in supply and stabilization of production over the course of the year. “We are working hard to further reduce delivery times for customers and to process the high order backlog as quickly as possible,” said Labbé.
Mercedes Benz
Mercedes-Benz sold 2.04 million cars last year – despite a strong final quarter, deliveries were 1 percent down on the previous year. The Stuttgart carmaker referred to corona measures, bottlenecks in logistics and semiconductors and the decision to stop vehicle exports to Russia. Mercedes was able to double its sales of electric cars last year to around 118,000.
bmw
BMW sales fell last year by 4.8 percent to 2.4 million. Deliveries fell significantly in Europe and China. The final quarter was also strong at BMW with an increase of 11 percent. Chief Sales Officer Pieter Nota announced that he would continue on the “course of profitable growth” without giving specific figures.
Despite the sharp decline, BMW not only defended first place among the luxury class manufacturers, but was also far ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi when it came to e-cars: the Munich-based company doubled its sales of e-cars to 216,000. In the current year, the share of battery cars in total sales is to be increased from 9 to 15 percent. The order intake is still high, said Nota.
Audi
The Volkswagen subsidiary Audi sold just 1.61 million cars last year, falling short of the sales forecast it lowered in October. The Ingolstadt-based company explained the decline of 3.9 percent compared to the previous year with supply bottlenecks, challenges in the logistics chain and the corona lockdowns in China.
In Europe, sales increased slightly, while in the largest single market, China, they fell by 8 percent. Audi picked up speed with sales of fully electric cars, rising by almost half to 118,000. Head of Sales Hildegard Wortmann said: “Even if we continue to face macroeconomic challenges, we look to the future with confidence.”
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
