SHANGHAI/BEJING (Reuters) – Volkswagen China on Friday stuck to its target of doubling sales of its ID-series electric vehicles this year despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19, with its boss calling the target “promising”.

The ID series, which Volkswagen produces in its Chinese joint ventures with SAIC Motor (600104.SS) and FAW Group, is the backbone of its electric vehicle (EV) ambitions in China, the world’s largest automobile market.[EV)ambitionsinChinatheworld’slargestautomarket[EV)ambitionsinChinatheworld’slargestautomarket

VW expects to deliver 15,000 to 20,000 of the ID cars per month in the coming months, Stephan Wollenstein, the company’s China CEO, said at a media briefing on Friday.

“We hope that we can also obtain the necessary parts,” said Wollenstein. “This will enable us to more than double ID sales by the end of the year compared to the previous year.”

Combustion-era champions – European, US and Japanese automakers – are falling behind local players in the booming EV market in China, a country crucial to funding and developing their electric and autonomous ambitions.

Volkswagen is no exception, although the German automaker is looking to accelerate electrification with the launch of its Volkswagen ID series of pure electric vehicles last year.

In January, the German automaker first formulated a goal of doubling sales of its ID battery EVs in China this year from the 70,000 units sold in 2021.

While the company suffers disruption from the recent COVID lockdowns at its key manufacturing facilities, it said it sold 59,400 ID EVs in China in the first six months of this year, contributing to 80% of its total EV sales, including Plug -in hybrids that doubled from a year ago.

Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, also expects VW to meet its target of a total annual volume of 150,000 to 200,000 ID vehicles.

“But this is really nothing special for VW China,” he said. Zhang said the German automaker currently has five ID models in showrooms in China and may add another before the end of the year, totaling the volume that Tesla generates with just one model.

“No one at Volkswagen should be happy about that.”

VW, the largest foreign automaker by sales in China, said its total sales in China fell 20.5% to 1.47 million units in the first half.

However, Wollenstein predicted “enormously high growth” for both VW and the industry as a whole in the second half, thanks to policies stimulating demand.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Kim Coghill, and Tomasz Janowski)

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