The boss of Volkswagen Australia has blamed the company’s slow electric vehicle (EV) rollout for its sales performance this year.
“2024 is not our strongest year in regards to sales, we have to do better,” Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Karsten Seifert told CarExpert when asked about the Volkswagen brand’s sales performance.
“We will look at different figures. And whatever the figure is, it will be higher than today. And yes we will do it going hand in hand with having the right volume segments, new technology, and with the right financial outcome.
“Whatever it will be, we will grow in the next two, three years – we are quite confident with that.
“We’re getting, month by month, more confident.”
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To the end of August, the Volkswagen brand has sold 24,197 vehicles in Australia this year – down 12.5 per cent on the same period last year.
After slumping to just 30,946 sales in Australia in 2022, its worst performance since 2009, the Volkswagen brand surged to 43,821 sales in 2023.
This was its best performance since 2019, though still well down on its tallies during the 2012-18 period when it never dipped below 54,000 annual units.
When asked why its 2024 sales figures haven’t met expectations, Mr Seifert blamed the lack of electric vehicles (EVs).
“We do not have electric cars in the market yet, so yes, it’s a great time to start,” he said.
“We have used the time in the right way, prepared the network, everything is ready to go, which is great for the customer.
“But I think I would have not minded also if we would have started a year earlier and [got] the new technology with the customers a little bit earlier.”
The electric ID. Buzz, ID.4 and ID.5 are all due here before the end of this year.
Beyond EVs, Mr Seifert also pointed to the Amarok as another potential opportunity for sales growth in Australia.
“Talking about the Amarok, we are quite convinced that there’s room to improve in the segment,” he said.
“So we have strong competitors. We appreciate that. We take that in a sporting way.
“With our figures, that’s okay for ’24. Let’s see what if 2025 [we] can do a little bit better.
“At the end, I would say there is quite a little bit more room for the Amarok than probably for other models.”
Amarok sales are up 97.0 per cent year-to-date to 6008 sales, the largest percentage gain besides the Polo (1171 sales, up 210.6 per cent).
This wasn’t enough to offset declines for the Golf (1623 sales, down 24.7 per cent), T-Cross (831 sales, down 79.4 per cent), Tiguan (3325 sales, down 37.2 per cent) and Tiguan Allspace (2892 sales, down 5.6 per cent), while T-Roc sales were essentially flat (5353 sales, down 1.2 per cent).
Other brands under the Volkswagen Group Australia umbrella have also posted declines this year.
Fledgling Cupra sold 1405 vehicles in the first eight months of this year despite having an EV in the Born, with sales down 33.4 per cent year-to-date.
Skoda was also down 29 per cent, with declines across its entire model lineup. Like Volkswagen’s namesake brand, it doesn’t currently offer an EV in Australia, though the Enyaq will touch down in December.
Audi has a pair of EVs but its more affordable Q4 e-tron isn’t due until the first half of 2025.
In the first eight months of this year, Audi sales were down 14.7 per cent. While most of the brand’s larger, more expensive models posted double-digit declines, the Q8 e-tron electric SUV was up 56.3 per cent to 136 sales.
All four brands are set to see a raft of new models in the next 12 months.
In addition to its first EVs in Australia – the ID.4, ID.5 and ID. Buzz – the Volkswagen brand will also receive a new generation of its volume-selling Tiguan and an updated Golf.
Skoda is getting a new generation of its volume-selling Kodiaq, as well as a new Superb and an updated Octavia, while Audi is getting not only the Q4 e-tron but also the larger Q6 e-tron and A6 e-tron EVs, and a new-generation combustion-powered A5.
MORE: Audi Australia preparing for 2025 model onslaughtMORE: Every new Skoda launching in Australia over the next 12 months
