Sales of new Volkswagen cars in Britain slumped by nearly 10 per cent last month in the wake of the pollution cheating scandal, industry data showed today.
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Luxury brands bucked the overall year-on-year trend, with Aston Martin sales up 40%, Bentley up 29%, and Porsche – part of Volkswagen Group – showing a 20.7% rise.
Latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows that 177,664 new cars were registered in October, representing a decrease of 1.1% on last year’s figure. Registrations for Volkswagen’s Audi marque rose on the year.
VW-owned SEAT was hit even harder, with sales down 32% – almost a third – to 2,338.
Ford, Vauxhall, MINI and Nissan also experienced declines in sales although year-to-date figures remain strong with 2,274,550 new cars registered so far this year – 6.4 per cent more than at this time in 2014. However, Audi was up 2.2%.
But other manufacturers also saw declines as for the industry as a whole fell by 1.1%, the first drop since early 2012.
The scandal deepened on Tuesday when the company said it had understated fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of 800,000 cars sold mainly in Europe.
There are already reports second-hand Volkswagen cars are selling for less, as sellers struggle with the lack of demand.
Only one of the nine Scottish regions – Tayside – recorded year-on-year sales growth in October, up 4.8 per cent to 1,104 new vehicles registered.
The setback is attributed to less demand from customers who seemed to be disenchanted by the revelation it had used stealth software to fabricate the results of emissions tests for a few of its popular models, mostly diesel vehicles.
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British vehicle production and registrations of new cars have been strong over the past three years, helped by a strong economic recovery and low interest rates. “This suspicion is likely to spread to other brands as consumers start to treat technical details as reliable as the fanciful auto advertisements seen on television: they might make us feel good, but they don’t describe reality”.
