BERLIN, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sales of German carmaker Volkswagen's core brand dropped by 15.1 percent year-on-year to around 5.33 million vehicles in 2020, the company said on Tuesday.
"Despite all of the restrictions in automotive trade caused by the pandemic, we were able to maintain our global market share and even expand it in several regions," said Klaus Zellmer, the board member responsible for sales of Volkswagen passenger cars.
Sales of Volkswagen's core brand in North America in 2020 declined by 17.1 percent year-on-year, while sales in the home market of Western Europe even dropped by 23.4 percent.
The decline in sales in Volkswagen's largest single market China was the smallest at 9.9 percent. More than every second Volkswagen brand vehicle was delivered to customers in China last year, according to the company.
Despite lower overall sales, the Volkswagen brand "delivered more electric vehicles worldwide than ever before." Volkswagen sold more than 212,000 electric cars last year, an increase of 158 percent year-on-year.
"2020 was a turning point for Volkswagen and marked a breakthrough in electric mobility," said Ralf Brandstaetter, chief executive officer (CEO) of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, in a statement.
In the Netherlands and Germany, Volkswagen managed to "leap to the number one spot in all-electric vehicles" last year, with a share of 23.8 percent in Germany's battery electric vehicle (BEV) market and 23 percent in the Netherlands.
On Tuesday, Volkswagen subsidiary Audi also published its sales results for 2020. Sales of Audi declined by 8.3 percent year-on-year to 1.69 million vehicles. However, Audi has already recovered and finished the year "with the most successful quarter in the company's history."
In China, Audi also achieved "new best figures" with a total of 727,358 vehicles sold last year, up 5.4 percent from the previous year, according to the carmaker. Enditem
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