VW’s Global Vehicle Sales Decline as Diesel-Motor Recalls Loom

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  Deliveries of VW brand vehicles fell 4% on Russia, Brazil
• Group's European market share was the lowest since March

Volkswagen AG’s namesake car brand reported a 4 percent decline in global sales last month amid a scandal over cheating on diesel-emissions tests.
Deliveries at the VW brand, which is at the center of the crisis, fell to 513,500 cars from 534,800 a year ago, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said Friday in a statement. The drop at Volkswagen’s largest unit contributed to a 1.5 percent decline in group-wide sales to 885,300 vehicles in September.
Drops were sharpest in Russia and Brazil, where recessions are causing vehicle markets to shrink, while growth in Europe trailed competitors as the company prepared to recall 8.5 million vehicles with rigged diesel engines. Volkswagen’s U.S. market share also narrowed.
VW has been battling to repair its image after admitting to deliberately rigging diesel engines to circumvent emissions regulations. The manufacturer’s recall is one of the biggest ever in Europe. German regulators are forcing the company to fix affected cars, which total as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide.
Volkswagen’s registrations in Europe rose 8.3 percent in September, while the overall market expanded 9.8 percent, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said Friday. The owner of the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat car brands accounted for 23.3 percent of the region’s auto sales last month, down from 23.7 percent a year earlier. It was the company’s weakest showing since March, and the decline may have been slowed by rebates.

Volkswagen's Loosening Grip on Europe's Car Market

“While we are wary of drawing conclusions from data captured only a few weeks after the emissions scandal, we suspect dealers may be resorting to discounts to compensate for any decline in sentiment from consumers,” Kristina Church and Charles Coldicott, analysts at Barclays Plc, said in a report this week. The manufacturer “experienced a noticeable uptick in discounting” in Germany in September.
Volkswagen’s group sales fell 44 percent in Brazil and 26 percent in Russia. In China, the manufacturer’s biggest market, deliveries slipped 0.8 percent in September.