Volkswagen China deliveries see 26% drop year on year to lowest point since 2010

Volkswagen Group’s deliveries in China slumped during the first half of 2026 to their lowest level in 16 years, as local electric vehicle (EV) brands further siphoned off buyers’ interest in petrol cars amid a slowing market.

Through its three ventures with Chinese partners, the German car brand handed over a total of 971,000 units to customers in China between January and June, down 26.1 per cent year on year, it said in a statement.

The delivery volume hit the lowest level since the first half of 2010 when it sold 950,300 vehicles in mainland China.

“The situation in China remains challenging, where we were unable to escape a significant total market decline of around 20 per cent,” said Marco Schubert, a member of Volkswagen’s extended executive committee for sales, in a statement on Friday.

He added that an 8 per cent growth in South America and a 3 per cent rise in western Europe only partially offset the significant decline in China, with global deliveries falling 6 per cent from a year earlier to 4.13 million units.

Overall sales of passenger cars on the mainland plunged 20.2 per cent year on year to 8.7 million units in the six months to June, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).