Volkswagen deliveries tick up in spite of another deep drop-off in China

Volkswagen deliveries grew 1.4% in the first quarter, with growth in nearly every market narrowly making up for a deep decline in China.

VW’s deliveries in China fell 7.1% to 644,100 vehicles. All-electric vehicle deliveries plummeted roughly 37% in the country. The automaker’s struggles in China are nothing new. After four decades at the top of the Chinese market, Europe’s largest automaker was bumped out of its position in 2023 by EV biggie BYD.

North American deliveries grew 4.4%, including a more than 6% bump in the US as customers raced to snag vehicles before the Trump administration’s auto tariffs hike prices. US rivals experienced similar sales surges recently: General Motors saw a 17% Q1 sales spike, while Ford said its dealership sales jumped 19% in March.

Last week, Volkswagen told US dealers it would be adding an “import fee” to cars affected by tariffs. And you can expect plenty of import fees: about 70% of Volkswagen’s US sales were Mexican-made vehicles last year.