Volkswagen and the carbon dioxide scandal: what’s more promising now

The VW Group received significant support from electric vehicle sales.

Volkswagen has said it has reached its European legal target for CO2 emissions by 2021, helped by its momentum for electric vehicles.

The group, which includes the VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands, has reached an average CO2 emissions of 118.5 grams per km in 2021 for its new EU car fleet, the carmaker said in a statement.

The figure was about 2% below the legal target set for the EU VW Group as part of its goals to combat climate change. The total does not include CO2 emissions from Bentley and Lamborghini, which are not part of the group’s target due to low volumes.

VW said the emissions figure is based on preliminary figures, and final confirmation from the EU Commission is expected at a later date.

Electric cars are the future

Group sales of electrified vehicles, including all-electric and hybrid cars, rose 64 percent to 472,300 in Europe last year, the automaker said.

Sales of all-electric cars, such as VW ID3 and ID4, Cupra Born, Audi Q4 e-tron and Porsche Taycan, helped the group reach its CO2 target.

The proportion of battery-powered and hybrid plug-in hybrid vehicles sold by the group increased to 17% of total deliveries last year, from 10% in 2020.

“Our group-wide electric offensive picked up speed last year – this helped us further reduce the fleet’s CO2 emissions and meet the EU target,” said Christian Dahlheim, the group’s head of sales, in a statement.

In a separate statement, VW said its average CO2 emissions were 113 g / km last year, below the EU target of 119 g / km.

BMW and Daimler said preliminary figures showed that they had also met European emissions targets, but neither had published specific figures yet.