Volkswagen-branded vehicle deliveries fell 1.4% year-on-year in 2025, driven by persistent market headwinds in China and new U.S. import tariffs. The brand reported total deliveries of 4.98 million units globally, compared with 5.05 million in the prior year. In China, the world’s largest auto market, VW delivered 820,000 vehicles, down 7.8% from 2024. In North America, deliveries declined 2.3% to 720,000 units following the imposition of a 25% tariff on European-made cars. Management highlighted that declining fleet incentives and inventory destocking weighed on results in both regions, and is targeting stabilized volume growth in the second half of 2026 through refreshed product launches and localized production adjustments.

Volkswagen has entered a multi-year collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to develop next-generation software-defined vehicles (SDVs) across its core VWAGY brand. The deal covers Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, enabling zonal electronic architectures, centralized computing for Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities and AI-powered infotainment systems. VWAGY plans to debut the first Qualcomm-powered SDV in late 2027, with initial production volumes of 50,000 units annually. Executives expect the partnership to reduce development cycles by up to 30% and cut system complexity by consolidating multiple control units into a unified compute domain.

Industry data for full-year 2025 show Volkswagen dropped to third place in China new-vehicle sales, overtaken by Geely Auto and BYD. VWAGY’s market share slid to 7.2% from 9.1% in 2024, with shipments of locally produced models such as the Tiguan L and Lavida down sharply. Geely’s sales rose 15% to 1.4 million units, while BYD logged a 22% gain to 2.2 million. Analysts attribute Volkswagen’s share loss to aggressive pricing and expanded EV portfolios from domestic competitors, and note Volkswagen’s push to introduce at least six new electric models in China this year in an effort to regain lost ground.