Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV), part of the Volkswagen Group, reports 97,200 vehicle sales (globally) during the first quarter of 2023, which is 18.7 percent more than a year ago. Sales clearly rebounded, but remain noticeably lower than in pre-lockdown levels (125,600 in Q1 2019).
The most important thing is however how quickly VWCV is increasing its all-electric vehicle sales, since the market launch of the MEB-based Volkswagen ID. Buzz model in Europe last year.
The total volume of battery-electric vehicle (BEV) sales in Q1 2023, amounted to 5,500, which is near the record of 5,800 units in Q4 2022. The growth rate from the low base of just around 700 units is 642 percent.
BEV’s share stands at 5.7 percent of the total volume, compared to less than 1 percent a year ago.
As we understand, not all sales are Volkswagen ID. Buzz, but it represents the vast majority of the total BEV volume. There are two main versions of the vehicle: the ID. Buzz Pro (passenger version) and the ID. Buzz Cargo (the cargo van version), both equipped with an 82-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery.
This might be just the beginning of something much bigger, because according to earlier reports, in 2023, the company might sell more than 44,000 Volkswagen ID. Buzz. This would require cranking out more than 10,000 units per quarter.
For reference, in 2022, the total BEV sales amounted to 7,500 (up 110 percent year-over-year), which was 2.3 percent of the total volume.
Cumulatively, more than 10,000 Volkswagen ID. Buzz were sold in Europe through the end of March (we don’t know the exact number).
Meanwhile, customers placed several times more orders, which translates to a pretty long queue of at least several months.
As we reported previously, this summer, Volkswagen will present the long-wheelbase version of the ID. Buzz, which will be launched in the North American market in 2024. The German manufacturer is also preparing to expand ID. Buzz sales outside Europe to 15 new markets, including Japan, Turkey, and Israel.
VWCV set a target to increase its BEV share out of the total sales to 55 percent by 2030.
