Volkswagen sales drop 20 per cent in Britain after emissions scandal

Sales of other VW brands are also down: Seat by 23.83pc, Skoda by 10.98pc and Audi by 4.41pc.

United Kingdom registrations increased by 3.8 per cent in November and diesel sales remain consistent – but Volkswagen’s 20 per cent plummet in the same month suggests buyers have started to lose faith in the VW brand. As per Automotive Research Association of India, the diesel cars manufactured in India by Volkswagen having E189 engine were fitted with the defeat device, which may lead to excess nitrogen oxide emission levels in on-road vehicles. Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal took a serious bite out of the company’s USA sales last month.

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 created to skew the results of emission tests.

Post the announcement, Govt. had said that they are going to widen the probe and will check every model of all automakers in next 3 to 6 months.

The new vehicle market returned to growth in November, after a decline in October – the first in 44 months.

Some 178,876 cars were registered in November, up by 3.8pc from 172,327 in the same month previous year.

“There is no hiding it any more“.

Volkswagen Group India issued a statement saying that it believes its cars are not equipped with a “defeat device”.

Volkswagen has set aside 6.7 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to cover the cost of fixing the cars, but experts say the scandal will cost the company much more, in part through lost sales.

“November’s figures come as a reminder of the strength of the United Kingdom auto market, as low interest rates and competitive finance deals continue to attract consumers to new vehicle 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’.