Episode Details

With the Volkswagen ID Buzz and Audi A6 E-Tron skipping a model year in the US and the ID7 cancelled for the North American market altogether, it would be easy to assume that the Volkswagen Group is facing the same struggles selling electric cars as plenty of other brands – and that, to some extent, is true.

However, following news just a few days ago that the VW brand has sold its 2 millionth all-electric car, the wider group has celebrated another major EV moment: across its entire portfolio of brands, it’s now sold 4 million battery electric vehicles since launching its first 13 years ago. While it’s undoubtedly a big milestone to reach, it still sees the manufacturer lag behind the global EV sales leaders coming out of China.

Europe Leads the Charge

To accompany its announcement of this milestone, the VW Group has provided some stats around the 4 million fully electric cars it’s sold since first launching the little e-Up electric city car back in 2013. 

Unsurprisingly, it’s VW’s home market of Europe that accounts for the biggest market for the group’s EVs – some 68% of the overall number, or around 2.7 million, have been sold there. That's not surprising given that brands like Skoda and Cupra are hugely popular on the continent but have relatively minor presences outside it. What VW calls the other two ‘core markets’ for EVs – China and the US – make up for a further 20% and 8% respectively, with the remaining 5% of its EV sales so far coming from other parts of the world.

ID4 and ID5 are Leaders

VW has also dug into the models that make up its 10 biggest-selling EVs, and comfortably sitting at the top is the VW ID4, plus its not-for-the-US 'coupe' version, the ID5. Between the two, roughly 901,000 units have been shifted since the ID4 went into production in 2020 – nearly a quarter of all the group’s EV sales. Following them in second is the VW ID3 with around 628,000 sales, while the Audi Q4 E-Tron and its Sportback variant round out the top three with 387,000 sales.

Notably, the Porsche Taycan occupies the sixth spot with 177,000 sales, outselling more mass-market propositions like the newly-refreshed Cupra Born. Also of note is that the e-Golf, a car very much aimed at early adopters of EVs, remains the group’s eighth best-selling electric car despite having been discontinued for over five years.

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