German carmaker Volkswagen said it delivered 4.56 million vehicles in 2022. This is down 6.8% from the year before, as a "strained supply situation" led to a backlog of orders.
On the upside, sales of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) were up roughly 23.6%.
"We achieved a solid sales result in 2022 despite persistent supply bottlenecks," Imelda Labbé, board member for sales, marketing and after sales for Volkswagen, said in a press release. "The pronounced growth in BEV models confirms that with our attractive product portfolio, we are on the right track to becoming the most desirable brand for sustainable mobility.”
The company said the order backlog "remains very high," with 640,000 customers having placed orders in Europe alone.
Volkswagen entered the electric vehicle market in 2020 with the ID.3, and has since delivered 580,000 units. The company announced the latest ID model, the ID.7, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week. The electric sedan is intended to help Volkswagen extend its line-up of electric vehicles into the "upper middle class high-volume segment."
"The roadmap is clear: with the ACCELERATE strategy, Volkswagen is stepping up the pace of its electric campaign with ten new electric models by 2026," the company said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a plan to overhaul the nation's organ transplant system, which has long been plagued by sometimes lethal delays and IT failures.
Web browser Mozilla is investing $30 million into launching a startup, called Mozilla.ai, focused on building a "trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem."
Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday in a high-stakes hearing on the future of the popular, Chinese-owned video sharing platform in the U.S.
Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginClear, which manufactures modular clean water systems, provided background on the water safety crisis in the U.S. He also provided best practices on how to test and filter water at home.
TikTok is banning deepfakes amid increasing pressure from the U.S. government over privacy and security concerns. CEO Shou Zi Chew announced the policy in a TikTok video on Tuesday two days ahead of his scheduled appearance before congress.
Language app Duolingo last week launched a new subscription tier, called Duolingo Max, that uses an artificially intelligent chatbot to provide more personalized feedback to learners.
