Asian Tech Press (Jan 11) -- Volkswagen (VW ) said the pure electric car sales in China could double this year, Reuters reported.

Last year, VW sold 70,625 units of its ID series electric cars in China but failed to meet its target of 80,000-100,000. In addition to chip shortages, VW production has also been affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

At a press conference in Beijing, VW China CEO Stephan Wollenstein stated that the company still wants to double the size of its original plan but that "the semiconductor supply now is not sufficient to achieve that goal."

However, he added, he is "quite optimistic that we will see a doubling of actual sales."

Due to the chip shortage, VW China delivered 3.3 million vehicles in China in 2021, down 14 percent from a year earlier. In the VW Group's announced strategy for the future, annual production is targeted at 10 million vehicles in 2022 and around 11 million in 2023. Still, internal sources indicate that in the worst-case scenario, production will only reach 8 million cars in 2022. In addition, group executives expect that the chip crisis could worsen the situation, especially for core brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars and subsidiary Skoda.