Sales of Volkswagen-branded cars in Britain tumbled 20 percent in November in the wake of the diesel emissions rigging scandal, industry figures showed on Friday, but strong rises for other brands helped the market to return to growth. New car registrations rose 3.8 percent year-on-year in November to 178,876, Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said, reversing a 1.1 percent drop in October which had ended 43 months of straight increases.
However, all of VW's main brands saw drops with Audi-branded cars falling 4 percent, Seat down 24 percent and Skoda 11 percent in a further blow to Europe's largest automaker which admitted rigging U.S. diesel emissions tests in September. Although the scandal engulfing the German carmaker first broke over two months ago, car deliveries typically occur several weeks after purchase decisions, making November's data the best gauge so far of the impact on demand.The German company has since admitted falsifying carbon dioxide emissions deepening the biggest corporate scandal in its 78-year history which has forced out its long-time CEO and wiped billions of euros off its market value. In October, fellow major volume carmakers Ford and Vauxhall also recorded large drops in Britain, pushing the whole British car market down, but November data showed both had bounced back with Vauxhall up 26 percent last month.
"November's sales might have been boosted by some consumers delaying their purchases from October when the VW emissions scandal hit the headlines," Chief UK economist Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note. Data released in the last few days has shown VW sales down in major car markets including Japan, North America and Germany, where sales of VW-branded vehicles fell 2 percent.
