MAPPED: Volkswagen’s global EV performance as German strikes start

Workers at nine Volkswagen vehicle and component plants, including the company’s EV-only facility, in Germany started two-hour strikes this week followed by another stoppage on Monday, that brought assembly lines to a halt amid warnings of domestic factory closures for the first time in the automakers’ 87-year history.  

Management at the world’s number two vehicle maker by volume are demanding wage cuts of as much as 10% and unless a deal is struck in the next round of wage negotiations workers are poised to down tools for longer or go on indefinite strikes. 

The Adamas Intelligence EV Battery Intel Platform shows the combined battery capacity deployed by the Volkswagen Group, including its joint ventures in China, fell by more than 7% to 14.9 GWh during Q3 compared to the same quarter last year.  

In GWh terms, Wolfsburg’s share of the global EV market fell to under 7% in Q3 from just below 9% last year, placing the group at number four worldwide after being overtaken by China’s Geely, another multi-brand automaker, which managed to up its battery capacity deployment by 62% year on year.  

While Volkswagen’s home market underperformed during the quarter (i.e., GWh deployment in the EMEA region dropped 6% year-over-year in Q3), it is in the Americas that Volkswagen suffered the most.  

During the September quarter, new owners of VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini EVs steered a combined 1.4 GWh onto roads in the Americas, a massive 31% drop versus Q3 2023. 

In the Asia Pacific region, where Volkswagen sells mostly under its own badge and manufactures through joint ventures with China’s SAIC and FAW, growth barely surpassed 1%.  

With 4.3 GWh of battery capacity deployed, the Asia Pacific region drove 29% of Volkswagen’s worldwide deployment in Q3 while the portion powered by the Americas fell into single digits.