WOLFSBURG/MUNICH/STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - VW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW sold fewer cars last year than in the previous year. It was not due to demand - a lack of semiconductors and corona lockdowns in China slowed sales. For the current year, the automakers expressed themselves on Tuesday only very cautiously.

Volkswagen's core VW Passenger Cars brand delivered 4.56 million cars worldwide last year - 7 percent fewer than the year before. "Despite ongoing supply bottlenecks, we have achieved a solid sales target in 2022," sales chief Imelda Labbé said Tuesday. VW made progress with all-electric vehicles, with sales rising by a quarter to 330,000 battery-powered cars.

The current year will "remain volatile and challenging due to ongoing supply bottlenecks for semiconductors," VW announced. However, the company said it expects supplies to gradually improve and production to stabilize as the year progresses. "We are working intensively to further reduce delivery times for customers and to work off the high order backlog as quickly as possible," Labbé said.

Mercedes-Benz sold 2.04 million cars last year - leaving deliveries 1 percent below the previous year despite a strong final quarter. The Stuttgart-based automaker pointed to Corona measures, bottlenecks in logistics and semiconductors, and the decision to stop exporting vehicles to Russia. In e-cars, Mercedes doubled its sales last year to around 118,000.

BMW sales fell 4.8 percent last year to 2.4 million. Deliveries fell significantly in Europe and China. However, the final quarter was also strong for BMW with 11 percent plus. Chief Sales Officer Pieter Nota announced he would continue the "course of profitable growth," without giving specific figures.

Despite the sharp decline, BMW not only defended its No. 1 position among luxury carmakers, but was also well ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi in e-cars: the Munich-based company doubled its sales of e-cars to 216,000, and plans to increase the share of battery cars in total sales from 9 to 15 percent this year. Order intake remains high, Nota said.

Volkswagen subsidiary Audi sold only 1.61 million cars last year, missing its sales forecast that was lowered in October. The Ingolstadt-based company explained the 3.9 percent year-on-year decline as a result of supply bottlenecks, challenges in the logistics chain and the Corona lockdowns in China. Sales were up slightly in Europe, but slumped 8 percent in China, the largest single market. Audi picked up momentum in sales of all-electric cars, which rose by almost half to 118,000. Sales chief Hildegard Wortmann said, "Even though we continue to face macroeconomic challenges, we look to the future with confidence."/rol/DP/jha