Volkswagen deliveries fall as China weakness offsets European growth

(Sharecast News) - Volkswagen Group reported a 6.3% decline in first-half vehicle deliveries on Friday, as a sharp downturn in China outweighed growth in Europe and South America. The German automotive group delivered 4.13m vehicles in the six months to June, compared with 4.41m a year earlier. Second-quarter deliveries dropped 8.6% to 2.08m.

China was the main drag, with first-half deliveries down 25.9% to 973,000 and second-quarter volumes falling 36.6%. Volkswagen said the wider Chinese market contracted by around 20%, although it pointed to early positive momentum from newly launched, locally developed electric vehicles.

Excluding China, group sales would have grown around 2% over last year, according to the company.

"The situation in China remains challenging, where we were unable to escape a significant total market decline of around 20 percent - despite initial positive momentum from our newly introduced, locally developed electric vehicles," said Marco Schubert, the company's head of sales.

Europe remained more resilient. Deliveries rose 3.5% to 2.04m, including growth of 2.9% in Western Europe and 7.2% in Central and Eastern Europe. South American deliveries increased 8.3%, while North America slipped 3.1% despite a 7.7% second-quarter improvement.

Battery-electric vehicle deliveries fell 6% globally to 438,500, but rose 8% in Europe. The company said its European BEV order book had increased by more than 50% since the end of 2025, supported by more than 54,000 orders for its new entry-level electric models from Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra. Plug-in hybrid and range-extender deliveries rose around 27% to 246,000.

The update follows Thursday's announcement of a future plan targeting lower complexity, a model-range reduction of up to 50% and production capacity of roughly 9m vehicles annually.

Volkswagen shares were down 1.5% €70.48 by 1413 BST.