Deliveries fell by 15.2 per cent to around 9.3 million vehicles last year, VW said, after its core passenger car brand and subsidiaries had released their own sales figures in recent days.

The group-wide data underpinned the growing demand for electric-powered vehicles.

The number of purely electric cars delivered last year tripled to almost 232,000, while plug-in hybrid models saw a 175-per-cent increase to reach over 190,000.

But this was far from enough to offset the general slump in the global automotive market.

Business in Western Europe, VW’s home market, was particularly weak as deliveries plunged by almost 22 per cent year on year.

North America also saw a heavy fall of 17.4 per cent, while the drop was less severe in the Chinese market including Hong Kong at 9.1 per cent.

Volkswagen passenger cars suffered a 15.1-per-cent drop worldwide, and sales also declined for subsidiaries Seat (minus 25.6 per cent), Skoda (minus 19.1 per cent), Audi (minus 8.3 per cent) and Porsche (minus 3.1 per cent). Luxury marques were generally less hard hit.

VW’s light commercial vehicles reported a drop of 24.4 per cent.

The situation stabilized somewhat in December, when a drop of 3.2 per cent for the Volkswagen Group was reported worldwide.