Jan 6, 2021

• Volkswagen Group UK consolidates market leadership: share of the passenger car market grows to 22.1%, +1.2% YoY
• Group now accounts for more than 1 in 5 new vehicles (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles) sold in the UK (source: SMMT)
• 19.1% share of all battery electric cars sold in December from just over 7% in 2019, confirming the success of the Group’s electric car launches

Milton Keynes, 6 January, 2021 – Volkswagen Group UK, the importer of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA and ŠKODA cars, as well as Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, is celebrating as its combined UK market share of new cars and light commercial equates to over 1-in-5 sales for the first time as registration numbers are reported by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for 2020.

With 360,454 cars registered, (-25.5%)  Volkswagen Group UK’s share of the passenger car market grew from 20.9% to 22.1% in the year. This was against the backdrop of the SMMT reporting an overall sharp drop in passenger car demand of -29.4% to 1.63 million cars in 2020.

Combining passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, the Group leads the combined market to a record 1 in 5, or more than 20%, of all cars and vans registered in 2020.

A particular stand-out performance came from plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) which, combined, increased by over 300% for the passenger car brands at close to 23,000 cars.

Commenting on the results, Volkswagen Group UK’s Managing Director Alex Smith paid tribute to the performance of the retailer network as well as the local and global Volkswagen Group employees: “In an incredibly tough year, severely disrupted by the necessary lockdown measures taken by the Government, I want to thank our retailer network for their hard work and dedication. Working together as a team with our retailer partners and our brand factories, we have shown strong performances across all of our brands as we overcame the limitations of showroom closures as well as pandemic related disruption to our supply chain.”

Registrations 2020 vs 2019 (source: SMMT)

Volkswagen Group UK

Head of Group Corporate and Public Relations
Oliver Larkin
Mobile 07767 418946
E-mail oliver.larkin1@vwg.co.uk

About the Volkswagen Group:
The Volkswagen Group, with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group comprises thirteen brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN.

The passenger car portfolio ranges from small cars all the way to luxury-class vehicles. Ducati offers motorcycles. In the light and heavy commercial vehicles sector, the products range from pick-ups to buses and heavy trucks. Every weekday, 671,205 employees around the globe produce on average 44,567 vehicles, are involved in vehicle-related services or work in other areas of business. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

In 2019, the total number of vehicles delivered to customers by the Group globally was 10.97 million (2018: 10.83 million). The passenger car global market share was 12.9 percent. Group sales revenue in 2019 totalled EUR 252.6 billion (2018: EUR 235.8 billion). Earnings after tax in the 2019 fiscal year amounted to EUR 14.0 billion (2018: EUR 12.2 billion).

Committed to becoming CO2 balance sheet neutral by 2050, The Volkswagen Group is investing €35bn into electrification over the next 5 years with over 70 all electric vehicles planned to be in the market by 2030.

Volkswagen Group United Kingdom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, and is the importer of Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA cars as well as Volkswagen passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The company directly employs approximately 1,000 people in the UK, and approximately 25,000 more are employed in the retail networks, logistics operations and with Financial Services.

In 2020 the Group registered 360,450 cars, achieving a market share of 22.1%, plus a further 32,500 vans and pick-ups, through our network of over 600 retailers – confirming Volkswagen Group as the clear UK number one.