Volkswagen’s April Fool’s joke about a “Voltswagen” rebranding for its new ID models prompted a regulatory probe. But the German carmaker indisputably succeeded in publicising its ambition to lead the world in electric car sales. That makes its sluggish start to this year’s electric vehicle sales all the more puzzling. 

Volkswagen needs to roughly double its monthly sales figures to meet its goals. It has sold about 126,000 battery electric vehicles in the first five months of 2021. That is more than half last year’s total, but little more than a fifth of this year’s target.

European electric car sales were slow overall in the first quarter, in part because registrations were brought forward to help meet 2020 targets. VW’s sales for these have now accelerated. Lacklustre revenues in China should worry, though, given that market’s importance. Volkswagen expects it to account for more than half its electric vehicle sales by 2030.