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VW's US sales got destroyed in November
(Thomson Reuters)
Volkswagen reported on Tuesday a nearly 25% decline in November sales in the US compared with the same month last year. Analysts had anticipated a plunge of 14%.
Automakers are reporting sales throughout the day.
So far, the numbers are coming in below expectations, but VW by far turned in the biggest decline.
The massive dip can be blamed on the emissions-cheating scandal that has shaken the carmaker.
In the US, VW halted sales of vehicles that have the types of diesel engines that were found to have cheating software installed. In total, VW sold about 24,000 vehicles in November. Last year, it had sold about 32,000.
For the full year, the pain wasn't quite as sever for the German automaker — sales were down only 4.3%.
The hit from the scandal couldn't be coming at a worse time for VW. Its efforts to establish a stronger presence in the US market had been failing before the crisis, leading to an unimpressive share of about 2%. (General Motors, by contrast, has 18%).
The US auto market has also been surging, with an annual sales pace that's been running at about 18 million for several months. If the year wraps up with an 18 million total, it will beat the best year on record, 2000, by half a million cars and trucks. (In 2000, 17.4 million vehicles rolled off dealer lots.)
VW has largely missed out on that boom. Its year-to-date sales look more like what the market's major players a notching in a single month or two.
(REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann)
One of the diesel TDI engines affected by the scandal.
Fortunately for the embattled company, the fixes that it will make to its diesel engines will likely involve software updates and relatively minor mechanical changes.
Whe the scandal first broke, there was concern that VW would have to buy back affected vehicles, a rare move when dealing with large-scale recalls.
Amid the November carnage, there was a single very bright spot for VW: Sales of its all-electric e-Golf rose nearly 300%.
Sales of the Tiguan crossover were also strong, up 87% as American continued to buy versatile SUVs. But VW's car sales were terrible, down double digits almost across the board.
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