Volkswagen Group China announced deliveries for the first quarter of 2018: together with its two Chinese Joint Ventures, SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, the Group delivered over 1.01m (2017: 891,500, +13.4%) vehicles in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, including 43,100 imported vehicles. “The result is a record for first-quarter deliveries and represents an excellent start to the year,” said Prof Dr Jochem Heizmann, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft as well as president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China. March was particularly strong, with Volkswagen brand, Audi, Skoda and Porsche each registering record deliveries for this month.
“The sales performance shows we are successfully delivering the vehicles and services Chinese customers want,” Prof Dr Heizmann said. “It also reflects the increasing momentum of our SUV offensive, which we launched last year and which will further accelerate this year. This is being supported by continued strong demand for our sedan models. Our focus is always on people and we work hard to stay in tune with the evolving demands of Chinese customers in terms of e-mobility, digitisation and connectivity.”
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The Volkswagen passenger cars brand remained the number one choice for Chinese car buyers in the first quarter of 2018. A total of 755,700 (2017: 695,600, +8.6%) Volkswagen branded vehicles was delivered to customers. The brand announced 2018 as its Year of the SUV, with 4 new SUV models (3 of which additional) coming available from the second half of the year. Still, Volkswagen delivered more than 100,000 Suva in the first quarter, with a total of 102,000 (2017: 76,200, +33.8%) vehicles for the Tiguan family, Teramont and Touareg combined.
Audi also closed the first quarter successfully. The company delivered 154,300 cars in China since January, an increase of 41.9% year on year. In the past month, demand increased by 30.6%, with the Ingolstadt-based automaker delivering 54,000 units. The Audi A4 proved an important growth engine. Since the start of the year around 37,400 Chinese customers received their keys for an Audi A4 (+99.2%).
Skoda achieved strong growth in the first quarter. The Czech brand delivered a total of 79,200 vehicles in the first three months, an increase of 18.6% over the same quarter last year. In March, deliveries increased by 29.0% to 28,100 cars. Skoda is pushing forward its extensive SUV offensive in China. The new compact SUV Skoda Karoq hit the market in March, which will provide another growth impulse.
Among the luxury brands, Porsche brand’s deliveries remained stable growing after a strong 2017, delivering more than 18,600 vehicles (+3.0%) to customers in the mainland and Hong Kong.
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