Volkswagen car sales tumble almost 20% in Britain: industry data

[LONDON] Sales of new Volkswagen cars collapsed in Britain by nearly a fifth last month as the German carmaker was plagued by fallout from the pollution-cheating scandal, industry data showed Friday.

There were 12,958 new registrations of Volkswagen branded vehicles in November, down almost 20 per cent from the same month in 2014, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said in a statement.

Sales of other key Volkswagen brands also fell sharply, with Audi down 4.4 per cent, SEAT slumping 23.8 per cent and Skoda losing 11 per cent in November year-on-year.

But sales of expensive brand Bentley surged by 20.6 per cent on lower volumes, while Porsche fell by just 0.8 per cent, according to SMMT data.

VW is remains embroiled in a massive pollution-cheating scandal after it was forced to admit that it had installed software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide designed to skew the results of emission tests.

The scandal has sent shockwaves around the global automobile sector and plunged VW into its deepest ever crisis.

On Wednesday however, official data showed that the number of new VW cars registered in Germany declined by just 2.0 per cent in November.

In addition, Volkswagen remained the biggest-selling brand in its home country.

Overall, despite the VW scandal, sales of new cars in Britain rose 3.8 per cent last month, the SMMT added on Friday.

That marked a modest rebound from a 1.1-per cent drop in October - which was the first fall in 3.5 years.

"November's figures come as a reminder of the strength of the UK car market, as low interest rates and competitive finance deals continue to attract consumers to new car ownership," said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.

"We have been expecting a levelling off in demand for some time now - a development that is being realised following an unprecedented three-and-a-half years of non-stop growth."

AFP