During the first quarter deliveries of cars under the Porsche and Audi brands were both up about a third year on year, Volkswagen has said. Sales of electric vehicles more than doubled to 133,300 vehicles.
"We started the year with great momentum and are on a strong operational course. This is clearly reflected in our positive quarterly figures," Volkswagen AG CEO Herbert Diess said. "Our successful e-offensive continues to gain momentum and we have significantly expanded it with attractive new models."The world's second largest carmaker by vehicle sales this year pleased investors when it provided more detail about its electric vehicle strategy, including higher sales targets and plans to build six battery factories in Europe.
Volkswagen's operating profit came in at 4.8 billion euros in the first quarter to March, helped by cost cuts and higher sales, versus 0.9 billion in the same period last year that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its improved outlook for the year comes even though the car maker expects the impact of an ongoing shortage of crucial automotive chips to intensify in the second quarter.