Volkswagen sold 1,421 electric cars in the United States in the third quarter, a 90% fall, after ending ID.4 production and halting imports of its electric minivan. In Europe battery electric cars took 29% of new registrations in August.
Volkswagen sold 1,421 electric cars in the United States between July and September. That is 90% fewer than a year earlier.
The ID.4 accounted for 989 of them, down 92.1% from 12,470, and the ID. Buzz for 432, down 82.5%, InsideEVs reported. Total US sales fell 10.9% to 78,179.
This is a supply number, not a demand one. For most of this year Volkswagen has been selling whatever was left on dealer lots, and InsideEVs calls it among the biggest drops of any electric carmaker in the market.
The ID.4 left production in Chattanooga in April, so the plant could build the petrol Atlas instead, and ID. Buzz imports stopped, leaving only 2025 cars.
Europe went the other way. Battery electric cars took 29% of new registrations across the continent in August, and Volkswagen is now taking more orders for electric cars than petrol and diesel in Germany.
Four budget models built in Spain have drawn about 100,000 orders between them. Volkswagen cancelled extra shifts at Wolfsburg as combustion demand fell, and added them at Emden and Zwickau.
Its European problem is a different one. Chinese brands took a record 10.9% share of the European market in June, roughly double their share a year before.
That is costing Volkswagen its best sellers. The Tiguan plug-in hybrid went from Europe’s top-selling plug-in to fourth in a year, behind the BYD Seal U.
Chief executive Oliver Blume wants Brussels to act, saying there is no time to lose. Existing EU tariffs of up to 35% cover battery electric cars from China but not plug-in hybrids.
The American replacement borrows the name. The ID. Tiguan arrives next year with a front boot and more physical controls, and the minivan returns as a 2028 model with a native NACS port.
Until then the lots are the lineup. The ID.4 has been discounted by up to $12,500, while the ID. Buzz still starts at $61,545 for a range topping out at 234 miles.
Washington removed the help. The ID.4 sold 248 cars in the final quarter of last year, once the federal tax credit expired, and tariffs contributed to a 53% drop in Volkswagen’s profit.
The contrast is sharper in China. Volkswagen’s joint venture there sells a plug-in hybrid saloon from about $17,175, under a third of what the minivan costs in America, with no plan to bring it west.