In brief: American and European shoppers interested in buying a new electric vehicle under the Volkswagen banner will have to wait until next year at the earliest to do so as demand has outpaced supply in two keys markets.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess told the Financial Times (paywalled, via EuroNews) that they are basically sold out of electric vehicles in the aforementioned regions. "And in China, it's really picking up," Diess added.
Volkswagen is the parent company of several well-known automotive brands including Porsche and Audi as well as Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto.
The publication's report notes Volkswagen delivered 99,000 EVs globally in Q1 2022. For comparison, Tesla in its most recent earnings report said it delivered 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter of this year.
Diess said Volkswagen has a backlog of around 300,000 orders for electric vehicles in Western Europe alone.
EVs - and new vehicles in general - have been somewhat tough to come by as of late due to pandemic-induced supply chain issues and chip shortages. Some automakers, however, aren't waiting around for conditions to improve.
Ford, for example, decided to go ahead and ship select models with missing components and a promise to install them at a later date once they become more readily available. BMW, meanwhile, opted to deliver select models without touchscreen functionality on the infotainment system and refunded buyers for the missing feature.