Best selling original part
VW sets sausage record
March 11, 2024, 1:28 p.m
VW sells its best-selling original part under part number 199 398 500 A: the currywurst from the company’s own butcher shop in Wolfsburg. Thanks to a new version, sales rose to record levels last year.
When it comes to vehicle sales, Volkswagen is working its way out of a deep valley. Last year, sales rose from the long-term low of 8.2 million cars in 2022 to 9.2 million in 2023 – but the old sales record of almost 11 million from 2019 is out of reach for the time being. However, a product from the Wolfsburg main plant reached a new high in sales last year: original part number 199 398 500 A. VW sells the currywurst made in the company’s own butcher shop under this part number via its spare parts ordering system.
In 2023, the sausage was sold 8.33 million times, including all variants. This is reported by several media outlets, citing the VW works council. In contrast to the Volkswagen Group’s vehicles, the data on the development of currywurst sales in previous years is contradictory. According to dpa, the previous sales record came from 2022 and was around 7.9 million units. According to a report by “Business Insider”, the previous record was set in 2019, with around 7 million units.
However, two things are clear: the sausage is the best-selling VW original part, ahead of all vehicle components such as brake discs or shock absorbers. And in 2023, more of them were sold than ever before. The works council acknowledged this success in an internal communication: “This is a very strong result that also demonstrates the performance and innovative strength of our colleagues in the butcher shop. Respect and congratulations, keep it up!”, it says Letter from which “Business Insider” quotes.
No more talking about avoiding sausage
As a result, the new record is thanks to a new sausage variant introduced in 2021. The classic VW sausage is produced in a long 170 gram and a smaller 85 gram version. There is now also a hot dog version weighing 40 grams. This new sausage – or more like sausages according to car manufacturer standards – which, unlike the classics, has so far not been sold primarily through the canteens and factory restaurants, but exclusively externally through partners, is apparently a huge success. As the works council statement states, sales of conventional sausages have been stable at around 6.4 million for years. Sales of the hot dog variant, on the other hand, rose to almost 2 million just two years after its introduction.
According to the works council, with the sales record in 2023, the potential of the VW sausage is far from exhausted. The hot dog sausages, which have been so successful externally, will also be offered to employees in Volkswagen’s German plants in the future, as “Business Insider” reports, citing internal VW sources. A new beef variant is already available, in addition to the standard pork version.
There is no longer any talk of restricting sausage consumption in Wolfsburg or elsewhere. The announcement that the currywurst in the Wolfsburg brand high-rise, the headquarters of the VW car brand, would be removed from the menu in favor of vegetarian and vegan offers caused a storm of indignation across Germany in 2021. In the sausage record year of 2023, VW reversed the decision at the “request of the workforce”.