Electric vehicle sales treble at VW

Volkswagen says its shipments of electric vehicles almost tripled over the first half of the year.

Deliveries climbed to almost 171,000 units over the period.

The boom was driven mostly by strong demand in Europe.

Last week the EU said sales of combustion-engined cars there would effectively end in 2035.

Now VW says it's on track to deliver one million electrified vehicles for the first time in one year.

That figure includes partially electric hybrids.

In China, VW's electric vehicle sales more than doubled over the period, exceeding 18,000 units.

Last month Reuters had reported that Chinese sales of the firm's ID models - the backbone of its electric range - had got off to a slow start.