Volkswagen Group Reaches 4 Million EV Deliveries: Impressive but Behind Schedule | Taha Abbasi

Volkswagen Group has reached a significant milestone with 4 million cumulative battery-electric vehicle deliveries worldwide, and Taha Abbasi finds this achievement both impressive and somewhat bittersweet. Four million EVs is a genuinely large number that puts VW Group among the top EV producers globally. But it also falls considerably short of where the company expected to be by 2026, revealing the gap between corporate ambition and market reality.

Understanding the Numbers

It is important to distinguish between Volkswagen the brand and Volkswagen Group the conglomerate. The Group encompasses Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley, and the TRATON commercial vehicle brands including Scania, MAN, and International. The 4 million EV milestone covers all of these brands combined. The Volkswagen brand alone recently celebrated 2 million EV deliveries, meaning it accounts for roughly half of the Group total.

Volkswagen Group was the fourth best-selling plug-in vehicle manufacturer globally in 2025, with 7% of the global market. That places it behind BYD Group at 22.2%, Geely at 11.1%, and Tesla at 7.9%. For fully battery-electric vehicles specifically, VW Group had 7.2% share, trailing BYD at 16.6%, Tesla at 12%, Geely at 10.4%, and SAIC at 7.9%. The Group is the top European EV maker, but in the global context, Chinese manufacturers have established a commanding lead.

The MEB Platform Story

Approximately 3 million of the 4 million Group EV deliveries have been built on the Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) platform. MEB was Volkswagen’s purpose-built EV architecture, launched to underpin a wide range of vehicles from compact cars to SUVs across multiple Group brands. The ID.3, ID.4, and ID.5 from Volkswagen, the Q4 e-tron from Audi, the Enyaq from Skoda, and the Born from Cupra all share MEB underpinnings.

Taha Abbasi notes that MEB’s production scale demonstrates the value of a modular platform strategy. Building 3 million vehicles on a single architecture generates enormous economies of scale, driving down costs and improving manufacturing efficiency. However, MEB-based vehicles have received mixed market reception, with some models praised for value and practicality and others criticized for software quality and charging speeds that lag behind competitors.

The Portfolio Breadth Advantage

One area where Volkswagen Group has a genuine structural advantage is portfolio breadth. The company offers more than 30 all-electric passenger vehicles across its brands, from the entry-level Skoda Enyaq to the Porsche Taycan to the Audi e-tron GT. As the company notes, “This gives the Volkswagen Group one of the most comprehensive BEV portfolios in the automotive industry.” For comparison, Tesla offers four passenger vehicle models and has announced the discontinuation of Model S and Model X production.

This breadth allows VW Group to capture demand across price points, vehicle segments, and customer demographics in a way that no single-brand competitor can match. A customer might start with a Skoda Enyaq and eventually upgrade to an Audi Q6 e-tron, staying within the Group ecosystem. This kind of brand ladder strategy is a proven automotive business model that translates well to the EV era.

What Comes Next: 20+ New Models in 2026

Volkswagen Group plans to launch more than 20 new models in 2026, with approximately half being all-electric. These include new electric models specifically designed for the Chinese market and an “Electric Urban Car Family” in Europe consisting of four affordable all-electric vehicles in the entry-level segment. The entry-level push is particularly significant because it addresses the price barrier that remains the single biggest obstacle to mass EV adoption in Europe.

The Chinese market strategy deserves particular attention. As Taha Abbasi has covered, Chinese consumers are increasingly choosing domestic EV brands over foreign ones, putting enormous pressure on Volkswagen’s historically strong position in China. Dedicated Chinese-market EVs designed and priced to compete with BYD, NIO, and Xpeng represent a survival strategy for VW Group’s most important market by volume.

The Software Challenge

Volkswagen’s CARIAD software division has been one of the Group’s most significant challenges. Originally envisioned as a unified software platform spanning all Group brands, CARIAD has experienced delays, leadership changes, and criticism for delivering software that does not match the polish of Tesla’s or even some Chinese competitors’ systems. Software quality directly affects customer satisfaction, over-the-air update capabilities, and the perceived modernity of the vehicle.

The Group has recently pivoted its software strategy, partnering with Rivian on next-generation software architecture. This partnership acknowledges that building automotive software in-house at the required quality level has proven more difficult than anticipated. Whether the Rivian partnership can accelerate VW Group’s software competitiveness remains to be seen, but the willingness to seek external help suggests the leadership recognizes the urgency of the problem.

The Bigger Picture

Four million EVs is a milestone worth celebrating, but Taha Abbasi sees it primarily as a marker of distance traveled rather than distance remaining. The automotive industry is in the midst of its most fundamental transformation in over a century, and Volkswagen Group’s size and portfolio breadth position it well to compete. But the same size that provides diversification also creates organizational complexity that slows decision-making and innovation.

The next 4 million EVs will be harder to achieve if VW Group cannot solve its software challenges, maintain competitiveness in China, and deliver the affordable urban EVs that European consumers are demanding. The company has the resources, the manufacturing capability, and the brand portfolio to succeed. Whether it has the organizational agility to match the pace of EV-native competitors is the question that 2026 will begin to answer.

The TRATON Factor

Often overlooked in discussions of VW Group’s EV progress is the TRATON commercial vehicle division, which includes Scania, MAN, International, and Volkswagen Truck and Bus. These brands are actively developing and deploying all-electric trucks and buses for commercial operations. The commercial vehicle EV market is growing rapidly in Europe, where urban delivery zones increasingly restrict combustion vehicles, and TRATON’s established relationships with fleet operators give it a natural advantage in converting commercial fleets to electric.

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About the Author: Taha Abbasi is a technology executive, CTO, and applied frontier tech builder. Read more on Grokpedia | YouTube: The Brown Cowboy | tahaabbasi.com