VW “sold out” electric vehicles in the US and Europe until the end of 2022

In short: American and European buyers interested in buying a new Volkswagen-badged electric vehicle will have to wait until next year to do so, as demand in two key markets outpaced supply.

This was announced by Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess. Financial Times (paid access, via euronews) that they are mainly sold out of electric vehicles in the aforementioned regions. “And it’s really picking up steam in China,” Diess added.

Volkswagen is the parent company of several well-known car brands, including Porsche and Audi, as well as the Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto.

The publication’s report notes that Volkswagen delivered 99,000 electric vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2022. For comparison: Tesla its latest income statement says it delivered 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter of this year.

Diss said Volkswagen has backlogs for electric vehicles of around 300,000 in Western Europe alone.

Electric cars – and new cars in general – have been pretty hard to come by lately due to supply chain issues caused by the pandemic and shortages of chips. However, some automakers are not waiting for conditions to improve.

Ford, for example, has decided to go further and supply select models with missing components and promise to install them later once they become more available. In the meantime, BMW decided to put some non-touchscreen models in the infotainment system and refunded customers for the missing feature.