Volkswagen sales growth driven by mass-market brands, Audi

BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen's increase in sales last year was driven by its mass-market cars and premium brand Audi, whose sales outstripped pre-pandemic deliveries at 1.9 million vehicles, according to data released on Friday.

The German carmaker reported on Tuesday a 12% rise in deliveries last year to 9.24 million vehicles, marking a post-pandemic recovery as supply chain bottlenecks eased.

On Friday, it reported a 34.6% jump in SEAT/CUPRA sales, a 6.7% rise in VW passenger car sales, and a 17.4% increase in sales at Audi, which had struggled to recover from the pandemic and hovered around the same sales figures since 2020.

Volkswagen's proportion of battery-electric vehicle (EV) sales was lower than its German competitors at 8.3%, after it was forced to cut shifts and staffing at EV-producing plants late last year when demand was not developing as expected.

Data also indicated a challenging year in China, where the market share of its joint ventures with FAW and SAIC - including the VW, Audi, and Jetta brands - shrank from 14.8% to 14.2%, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Volkswagen is due to release financial results on March 13.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Paolo LaudaniEditing by Miranda Murray and Mark Potter)