Number of new cars licensed in November jumps almost 28%

DESPITE its public travails, customers’ loyalty to Volkswagen here seems to be holding firm as new CSO figures show is was the most popular new-car make bought last month. He has denied any knowledge of the crisis that saw Volkswagen Group shares and sales plummet and cheated on NOx emissions on 11 million four-cylinder diesel cars worldwide.

The five lowest ranked automotive brands were Skoda (5%), Seat (4%), Subaru (4%), Smart (3%) and Suzuki (3%).

There was a 28% increase in the number of new cars licensed in the month compared to November past year.

Meanwhile, there was an increase of just over 30% in the number of new goods vehicles licensed in November.

That’s up almost a third on the same time previous year. November’s sales might have been boosted by some consumers delaying their purchases from October when the VW emissions scandal hit the headlines.

It has set aside €6.7bn (£4.8bn) to deal with the fall-out – a figure which is expected to rise.

However, despite the slump in British sales last month, the SMMT figures showed that the VW Golf remained the UK’s fourth best-selling model in November.

Jim Holder, editorial director of magazines Autocar and What Car?, said he believed VW’s sales figures were a direct result of the diesel scandal.

“They are going to face several hard months now while they have to rebuild”.

“There is no hiding it any more”.

It appears the whole Volkswagen “dieselgate” scandal in the United States might be affecting sales across the Pond, too.

Indeed, despite the poor November showing, Volkswagen’s sales for the year to date are up 4.50% compared to the same period the year before.