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A few days ago, Volkswagen Group announced global sales in the third quarter. Volkswagen Group's global sales in the first three quarters of 2024 were 6.5243 million, down 2.8 per cent from a year earlier, including 2.1763 million in the third quarter, down 7.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to data.

In terms of brand segmentation, the biggest sales are still Volkswagen-branded passenger cars, with cumulative sales of 3.3968 million vehicles in the first three quarters, down 2.5 per cent from a year earlier, of which sales fell 6.6 per cent to 1.1764 million in the third quarter. Other brands grew, with Skoda's sales up 4.5% to 671300 vehicles in the first three quarters, including 6.0% in the third quarter, while Seattle's sales rose 7.7% to 422100 vehicles in the first three quarters, but fell 4.4% in the third quarter. By contrast, luxury brands performed relatively poorly, with Audi down 10.6%, Bentley down 26.6%, Lamborghini up 8.4%, and Porsche down 6.9%.

The decline in Volkswagen Group's global sales is mainly due to the Chinese market, where growth in the Americas is offset by declines in Western Europe and China. Data show that China is Volkswagen Group's largest single market in the world, with sales of 2.0566 million vehicles in the first three quarters of 2024, accounting for 31.5% of global sales, but the market sales fell 10.2% year-on-year, the largest decline in sales. In addition, Volkswagen sales in Western Europe fell 0.7% to 2.4244 million vehicles. For comparison, Volkswagen grew in North America, South America, the Middle East / Africa, of which South America grew 14.6% year-on-year, but because the market was far smaller than the Chinese market, even growth failed to offset the decline in the Chinese market.

The decline in Volkswagen's sales in China highlights the serious challenges facing the European car industry, including weak demand in China and high local production costs. Marco Schubert, a member of the executive committee of Volkswagen Group, also said that Volkswagen Group is in a particularly difficult situation in China, where it is facing fierce competition with local competitors offering more affordable electric models, and its market share is being severely squeezed.

Not long ago, it was revealed that Volkswagen China is laying off staff, mainly related to the imported car business, involving the Volkswagen Import Automobile (China) sales Company (VGIC), with nearly 100 layoffs. Volkswagen China has given employees two options in this round of layoffs, the first is for Beijing to leave to work in Hefei, and the second is to lay off staff directly and give compensation to the highest Nintendo 6. It is important to note that not everyone can get Never6 compensation. The main criteria are regular employees who need to work at Volkswagen for many years. "[imported cars] do not sell well and do not need too much manpower support, so layoffs are normal, and the imported car business has experienced many layoffs before," said a person familiar with the matter. in the future, the imported car business may go to Volkswagen Anhui, where Volkswagen Anhui will sell the Touareg brand. "

In response to rumors of layoffs, Volkswagen China said, "this is part of its global efforts to reduce costs, and the company is continuing to improve the efficiency of various departments and projects and optimize costs. According to the actual situation, the relevant measures also involve direct labor costs and indirect labor costs, including administrative expenses, travel and training costs."

As Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen is also facing challenges, especially in the Chinese market. As the EU imposes import tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, European carmakers such as Volkswagen Group will have to cope with rising trade tensions between China and the EU. Volkswagen is considering closing its German plant for the first time because of weak demand in Europe, fierce competition from the Chinese market, the challenges posed by car electrification and high costs in Germany. Earlier, Volkswagen Group cut its full-year sales forecast for the second time in three months and is expected to deliver about 9 million vehicles this year, down from a year earlier.

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