Volkswagen Group claims top spot for battery electric car sales in the UK
Volkswagen Group has established itself as the market leader for battery electric vehicle sales in the UK, according to latest sales figures.
With over 37,000 battery-electric car sales for the year, Volkswagen Group occupied a 19.5% market share for 2021. This comes as battery electric vehicle sales increased by 76.3% on 2020, making it a record year for the industry.
In addition to Volkswagen becoming the UK’s best-selling new car brand for the very first time, the Group also outperformed the car market with an increase in battery electric registrations of over 100% to 33,239 in 2021.
Porsche Cars GB registered 4,039 Taycan models leading total Volkswagen Group BEV registrations in the UK to more than double to 37,278 cars in 2021 compared with the year before.
The automotive giant also cited strong performance across the Seat and Škoda brands, with the Enyaq iV increasing Škoda BEV sales more than ten-fold to over 3,000 vehicles, plus a more than doubling of Cupra registrations, even before the new all-electric Born reaches retailers.
Commenting on the results, Volkswagen Group UK’s Managing Director Alex Smith paid tribute to the performance of the retailer network as well as the local and global Volkswagen Group team: “In 2021 the Volkswagen Group family worked hard to deliver a record market share with an outstanding sales performance despite challenging external factors.
“2021 was the year that in particular saw the breakthrough in sales of our multi-award winning battery-electric cars with registrations more than doubling year on year versus the overall market growth of 76 percent for BEVs. With more exciting models to come in 2022, including the eagerly anticipated Volkswagen ID. BUZZ as well as Cupra Born, we have built a solid platform to grow sales even further of zero tailpipe-emission vehicles.
“Volkswagen’s partnership with Tesco offers free charging at over 400 stores. Together with the Group’s investment in the fast-charging IONITY network, as well as our cooperations with Octopus Energy and PodPoint, we continue to share in the expansion of the necessary EV charging infrastructure.
“We call on all stakeholders to work intensively in 2022 and beyond to rapidly expand the required charging infrastructure. The goal must be to make public charging as accessible as a visit to a petrol station. This is key to encouraging even more customers to switch to electric vehicles as we move towards a world of connected, electrified, and ultimately autonomous enabled, carbon neutral mobility.”
