The Volkswagen Group increased its global BEV deliveries by 59% to 216,800 vehicles (commercial vehicles and buses/trucks included) in the first quarter compared to Q1 2024. Polestar’s Q1 sales were up 76% compared to last year.

For the Volkswagen Group, things went very well in Europe and the US, but not in China. We can see the parallel with other European manufacturers like Mercedes and BMW.

The global BEV share of the VW Group’s sales rose from six to ten percent, as Volkswagen delivered 2.13 million cars across all drive types (+1.4%) in Q1 2025.

Mixed sales results

The Volkswagen Group recorded strong growth in European electric car sales (+112.6%) and the US (+51%). In Western Europe, 19% of total sales were purely electric.

However, things went less well in the more relevant Chinese market, where EV deliveries fell by 36.8%. In other words, while the Volkswagen Group’s brands still delivered 41,000 battery-electric cars in China in Q1 2024, this figure dropped to just 25,900 units in 2025.

At the same time, EV sales in the US increased from 13,200 to 19,900 vehicles, and the US could soon overtake China as the second most important BEV region for the VW Group, provided that import tariffs don’t overthrow everything.

Nevertheless, Europe remains the most critical EV market. The Q1 results for 2024 (74,400 electric cars) more than doubled, reaching 157,800 units. The rest of the world also saw a strong growth of 63.7%, from 7,800 to 12,800 BEVs.

Electrifying progress

In addition to the 216,800 BEVs, the Group also delivered 82,500 plug-in hybrids, 15% more than in the same period of the previous year. According to Volkswagen, there is increasing demand for second-generation plug-in hybrids, with all-electric ranges of up to 143 kilometers.

The most significant growth was recorded by the ‘Brand Group Sport Luxury,’ which consists solely of Porsche: the electric Macan entered its first full year, and sales grew by 326.4% to 18,400 units.

However, the ‘Brand Group Core’ also performed well, increasing 57.2% to 151,200 BEVs. The VW brand contributed 95,200 electric cars (+39.6%), Skoda 27,000 units (+31.2%), Seat/Cupra 19,000 vehicles (+173.1% and VW Commercial Vehicles 10,100 electric vans (+42.4 %).

The ‘Brand Group Progressive’ (Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini) saw an increase of 31.2%, from 35,600 to 46,700 electric cars, entirely due to Audi being the only brand with an electric car range.

ID.4/ID.5 most popular

As usual, VW announced the ten best-selling electric models in its delivery figures announcement. The list is headed by the VW ID.4/ID.5 duo, with 43,700 units, followed by the ID.3, with 28,100 vehicles, 22,900 Audi Q4 e-tron (including Sportback), and 20,200 Skoda Enyaq (including Coupé).

The VW ID.7 (incl. Tourer) followed with 19,100 deliveries, ahead of the Audi Q6 e-tron (incl. Sportback) with 16,000 units and the Porsche Macan with 14,200 deliveries. The VW ID. Buzz (incl. Cargo), with 12,700 units, narrowly outperforms the Cupra models Born (11,000) and Tavascan (7,600).

Polestar on the rise

Polestar retail sales volumes amounted to an estimated 12,304 cars in Q1 2025, up 76% versus Q1 2024 and stable versus Q4 2024, against a challenging economic environment. Sales were supported by a growing uptake of newer models and the ongoing transition to an active selling model, comments the manufacturer.

Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO, commented: “We are on the right track and doing the right things. I’m pleased with our progress in transforming our commercial operations.”

“We deliver results with a more active selling model, retail partners, and attractive cars. At the same time, we are monitoring closely and assessing the volatile geopolitical environment and will adapt as needed,” he added.