VW sees sales decline by one quarter amid microchip shortage

German car company VW published disappointing numbers on Friday amid continuing issues with microchip supply, reported dpa.

In May, the company sold 658,000 cars across the world, 23.5% fewer than in the same month of the year before. In the first five months of the year the company sold 3.07 million cars, a quarter less than last year.

A lack of microchips is causing problems and sales in the important Chinese market are only now beginning to recover after Covid-19 lockdowns. However, VW manager Herbert Diess said he expects both the microchip situation and China sales to improve in the course of the year.

In western Europe, VW sold 22.9% fewer cars year-on-year, in China 23.8%. While the central brand VW sold 23.3% fewer cars, the Skoda brand performed worst with a 39.3% decline, and Audi saw a 21.3% cut in sales.

Sales of the company's luxury brand Porsche declined by 10.4%. The Traton subsidiary, with the brands MAN, Scania, Navistar, and South American brand VW Caminhoes e Onibus achieved an increase of 15.8%, but only because VW has only included US-based Navistar in its numbers from July 2021.

Without Navistar, the truck and bus business would also have seen a decline this year.