Sales of new Volkswagen (VW) cars collapsed in Britain by almost a fifth last month as the German carmaker was plagued by fallout from the emission scandal, industry data showed on Friday.
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But a laboratory test commissioned by the BBC’s Panorama programme reportedly found that VW diesel cars fitted with the software can also cheat European emissions tests. While sales didn’t have time to be affected in September, October saw a drop of almost 10% in Volkswagen’s United Kingdom sales.
New vehicle registrations rose 3.8 percent year-on-year in November to 178,876, Britain’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said, reversing a 1.1 percent drop in October which had ended 43 months of straight increases.
Volkswagen cars are parked outside a VW dealership in London, Britain November 5, 2015.
Jim Holder, editorial director of magazines Autocar and What Car?, said he believed VW’s sales figures were a direct result of the diesel crisis. Registrations to fleet buyers (up 8.7%) increased ahead of those to private customers (up 2%), continuing a trend that has been evident for several months.
‘If you lose trust, it’s very easy to turn to your second choice and think it’s only 2 per cent less desirable than the Volkswagen Group vehicle I wanted, I trust that brand far more, I’m going to go with that one’.
Other volume-selling brands that had a hard month included Citroen, down nearly 29 per cent year-on-year, Fiat dropping 21 per cent and Nissan losing out at a rate of 18 per cent. BMW sales were also three per cent lower than the same month in 2014. This marks a big recovery from October’s sales, which fell by 1.1%, the first monthly fall in United Kingdom sales for almost four years.
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Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said November’s figures were a “reminder of the strength of the United Kingdom auto market”.
