The ARAI found that diesel cars manufactured in India by Volkswagen having EA 189 engine were fitted with the “defeat device”, which may lead to excess nitrogen oxide emission levels in on-road vehicles. After adjusting for the loss of diesels, deliveries of all other VW models models fell by 2,381 units from November 2014, or 9 percent.
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Volkswagen (NASDAQOTH:VLKAY) said that US sales of VW-brand vehicles fell nearly 25% in November, as the company’s emissions-cheating scandal may have kept buyers away from its showrooms. VW sells far more vehicles in Europe and China than it does in the U.S. But it will add to the pressure on VW to resolve the emissions-cheating scandal as quickly as possible: VW’s American dealers are already incensed with the company, and falling sales won’t help. TrueCar estimates that VW’s per-vehicle incentive payments (across the VW, Audi, and Porsche brands) rose 27% in November versus a year ago.
The U.S.is a relatively small market for Volkswagen AG.
It was the wrong month to run low on inventory.
Autocar India, Autocar Professional’s sister magazine, had exclusively reported on Monday, November 30, 2015 that the Volkswagen Group was bracing itself to initiate a recall of its cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal. One bright spot was the Tiguan crossover, which soared 88% to 3,907 units as customers flock from cars to crossovers.
Through 11 months, the VW brand’s USA sales were down 4 percent to 318,484 vehicles.
“We believe United States auto sales will continue to grow in 2016, based on the underlying strength of the economy”, said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM chief economist. While these two engines have a technical solution, a solution for the 3-cylinder 1.2-litre diesel engine is still being developed. The Audi spokesman said the impact from the stop-sale on 3.0-liter diesel models was limited.
Volkswagen and the German industry have been rocked by revelations starting September 18 that the carmaker had used software to hoodwink regulators about the true emissions of its diesel cars for years. The company will have to come up with fixes that enable the diesel engines to meet clean-air rules before a nationwide recall is rolled out to affected consumers.
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“As we head into the final sales month, we are on track to achieve our sixth-consecutive record year and exceed 200,000 annual sales for the first time”, Del Rosso said in the statement. For Audi, the models where the recall will be announced included the A4 and A6 sedans and the Q3 and Q5 SUVs.
