Volkswagen vehicle sales fall more than 5% in wake of emissions scandal

Amid new controversy over cheating on carbon dioxide emissions certifications on top of the company’s ongoing emissions scandal, embattled vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen has stated that it is giving its employees until November 30 to come clean and provide any pertinent information that would shed light on the carmaker’s biggest problem to date, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Volkswagen is telling nonmanagerial employees they can come forward with information about how the company cheated on US emissions tests and they won’t be fired.

VW is “experiencing challenging times” beyond the emissions manipulation due to “tense situations on world markets”, brand sales chief Juergen Stackmann said in the statement.

The violation concerns Volkswagen’s diesel-power, four-cylinder vehicles manufactured between 2009 and 2015, which used a piece of software which falsified emissions data generated by the exhaust.

Sales fell 26 percent in Russian Federation and 50 percent in Brazil.

The company has yet to explain publicly who was responsible for installing software in 11 million diesel vehicles that was created to disguise the output of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant harmful to the lungs.

Worldwide deliveries for the entire Volkswagen group decreased 3.5 percent to 831,300 vehicles in October, edging 1.7 percent lower to 8.26 million units in the first 10 months of the year.

Volkswagen is trying to contain the crisis.

Writing to Volkswagen customers, head of fleet Michael O’Shea said: “We want to make it clear to you that it may be necessary to publish revised, and potentially increased, values in the near future”.

The drop in Volkswagen-branded vehicle sales was partially offset by the success of Porsche, Volkswagen Group’s luxury brand, which saw 18% growth in sales in October.