Audi suffered the biggest sales fall within the Volkswagen Group during 2024 in what was a painful year for the marque.

Bentley also had a tough 12 months during which the UK brand dropped below a record-selling Lamborghini for the first time during their pairing within the group.

The biggest winner within the group, based on percentage growth, was Seat-Cupra while Skoda also had a solid year, according to the group’s own figures.

Overall, the Volkswagen Group delivered 9.01 million vehicles, down 2.3% on the year before, after weathering a “challenging market”, according to Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. Strengthening sales in North America and South America helped to a offset a slump in its key market of China.

Audi’s 12% drop wiped nearly 200,000 sales from its previous year’s total to record 1.67 million. However, it still retained its slot as number two for sales within the group, after the Volkswagen brand, which sold 4.80 million vehicles, a fall of 1.4%.

Historically, Audi has been core to the Volkswagen Group’s earnings, but up to the end of September, the premium brand suffered a 55% drop in profits to post margins that looked decidedly unpremium, at 4.5%. Supply problems at the beginning of the year, which restricted sales of bigger-engined models, didn’t help.

The Volkswagen brand retained its number one spot in the UK with a small rise of 2.6%, although traditional rivals Ford and Vauxhall are well out of the running these days. Audi experienced an 11% cut in UK sales, dropping it below BMW at 122,431 units, as changeovers for key models such as the A4 and Q5 impacted deliveries. The Q4 E-tron was a bright spot, finishing second behind the Tesla Model Y in the UK EV chart for the year.

Seat-Cupra achieved the biggest global uptick of any Volkswagen Group brand during the year, rising 7.5% at 558,200 sales, of which Cupra accounted for just under half. The Spanish-based division has been thoroughly revitalised by the addition of Cupra as a stand-alone nameplate, with the Formentor SUV its biggest seller in the UK last year. The Cupra Born, meanwhile, was the Volkswagen Group’s fifth best-selling EV globally.

The two Spanish brands remain primarily a European entity, with Germany the top market followed by Spain and the UK. However, the duo are also growing in Mexico, with 26,000 sales last year, up 22%.

Skoda has bounced back from its starvation during the chip shortage too, growing 6.9% in the year, to 926,600 sales. That’s still a long way from its record of 1.25 million, set in 2018, but the number is healthy given the brand can no longer count on big sales in China, once its largest market. In the UK, Skoda came within a whisker of beating Vauxhall, with sales up 12% to 78,601 units to finish 12th, ahead of Peugeot, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures.

In the battle of the ultra-luxury brands that fall under Audi’s control, Lamborghini grew sales by 5.7% to hit 10,687, a new record. The Italian firm’s success took it above Bentley for the first time during their VW Group history after the UK marque suffered a 21% drop in deliveries, down to 10,600. The rare loss was a combination of Bentley’s model changeover year, with the new Continental GT coming on stream, and the continued success of the Lamborghini Urus SUV, which switched to a plug-in hybrid drivetrain this year.

Porsche managed to offset a sharp 28% decline in its key market of China with strong European demand to record sales of 310,718, down 3% on the year before. A steep 49% decline in sales of the Taycan were partly balanced by deliveries of the electric Macan, with over 18,000 sales in the latter part of the year. The model even helped the Volkswagen Group out of tough spot in the UK, where it was struggling to meet the ZEV mandate requirement. In December, the electric-powered Macan was the eighth best-selling EV overall in the UK, at 1141 units.

The Volkswagen Group’s ability to ramp up its electric sales across Europe will be key to its success in 2025, with banking firm UBS forecasting possible European Union fines totalling between €2-5 billion (£1.7-£4.2bn). In total last year, the group delivered 744,800 EVs, down 3.4% from the year before because of a slump in Europe and the US. The Volkswagen ID 4 SUV was its biggest seller. 

The group says it has a solid order bank of 170,000 EVs for Europe going into 2025, giving it a leg up against the European Union’s tough new CO2 targets that come into force this year. 

New electric models are coming on stream all the time, and the new, longer-range plug-in hybrids look popular. In December, the VW Tiguan was the UK’s biggest-selling PHEV, beating the Ford Kuga. However, the lack of cheap EVs this year is likely to continue to be a drag on the Volkswagen Group’s regulatory responsibilities, especially with rival Stellantis finally getting its own low-cost EVs into the market with cars such as the Fiat Grande Panda.