VW sales down in Europe

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tamarillo, Dec 2, 6:20pm
By a huge . Wait for it. 0.5 %
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34844090

So much for that! They'll be teaching a course at uni for business crisis management using VW as model.
To be fair down 25% in US but that's a much smaller market for them and they've stopped selling to 2 litre and V6 diesels.

franc123, Dec 2, 6:40pm
Far too early to be gauging the impact of it yet, the figures over the next year will be more telling.

rsr72, Dec 2, 7:06pm
A ridiculous amount of fuss over virtually nothing that has any real effect on VW buyers and owners.
Who ever buys a car on the basis of how much damage it might cause the environment? The public don't give a damn about emissions and such PC rubbish.
To quote that great Maharishi of our modern car culture, Jeremy Clarkson; -

'You could use slave labour to build a car than ran on a mixture of cyanide and potassium, and if it had free mud flaps and a 5 yr warranty, you'd sell it by the shipload.
Value for money matters most, fuel economy matters too, along with comfort, zest and reliability. What comes out of the exhaust is irrelevant'.

Buy your VW's folks, you won't buy better.

c-town, Dec 2, 7:14pm
What VW did actually makes me want to buy one.Any company that wants to stick one to the authorities is all good in my book.Pity they dont put v8s in their utes.

bill-robinson, Dec 2, 7:21pm
VW should have asked why such a weak test was in place. proves the old addage 'no such thing as cheating, there is only getting caught'?

serf407, Dec 2, 7:25pm

mm12345, Dec 2, 7:45pm
The weak tests were in place because the auto makers lobby hard against the authorities when they try to tighten up procedures, so that they can cheat.
As for not caring or even stating that regulations aren't needed, I hope someone drops their shorts and takes a dump on those folks' christmas strawberries. Oh wait - you don't need strawberries - but you do need air.

tamarillo, Dec 2, 8:28pm
Yep, like I said 'To be fair down 25% in US but that's a much smaller market for them and they've stopped selling to 2 litre and V6 diesels.'
To put that in context VW group sells 10 million worldwide.
That 25% drop in US market is just 100,000 less per annum, that's how small it us for them.
It is of course possible these drops will be worse next month, buying decisions are often Made months out so the worst may be yet to come.
But so far, it's really not proving to be the huge issue some thought, showing that public often won't know or care.

tamarillo, Dec 2, 8:32pm
Dunno about that. In Europe it's a big factor and often effects the annual tax bill which is far higher than here. Have a look at a magazine like autocar uk. Emmision rating is a deal breaker on some cars.
Though in a way you're right, they only care because it's hitting them in the picket.

vtecintegra, Dec 2, 8:33pm
In the US basically all if their diesel buyers did so based off the 'clean diesel' speil VW was using in their marketing.

Diesel made absolutely zero sense in that market from an economic or performance point of view, it's only selling point was supposed environmental benefits.

bumfacingdown, Dec 2, 8:37pm
It is a big number when you are trying to cultivate that market

tamarillo, Dec 2, 9:07pm
For sure, will be devastating for VW US after all the advertising it seems they did to grow market. Be interesting to see if sales of petrol VW is down in US, or if this is purely due to withdrawing those diesels.
Saw that Audi sales are up in Europe. Maybe most folk don't realise Audi is part of same group.

rob_rooster, Dec 2, 9:17pm
They are still good cars , don't care about Diesel-gate!

ema1, Dec 2, 9:58pm
Don't forget the "drops" at whatever level they may be world wide ARE going to hurt.
Then there's all the likely litigation and law suits that are no doub't waiting in the wings, that is going to hurt big time too, mark my words folks.
The North American market is the only one that seems to be picked on as an example in this thread the overall world % in the next year is the one that I will get credence from.

tamarillo, Dec 2, 10:14pm
Yes you're right, it's the overall drop over next months to years that will matter. But so far, not too bad. And that's my point ; they've handled it well.

rsr72, Dec 2, 10:18pm
Good man!

lk104, Dec 3, 12:50am

gram, Dec 3, 1:28am
Says the lawyer trying to build up a case against VW. It might suit him if it were a fact.

lk104, Dec 3, 1:49am
"He said many of his clients were unable to sell their vehicles because of the emissions problem"

Sounds pretty factual to me.

ema1, Dec 3, 1:55am
They won't be giving them away here in NZ by the looks of things, this link says they are withdrawing the affected models unsold in NZ .
That degree of "pro activeness" equates to a loss of potential profit. right.
6% of VW's in this country is mentioned.
4,639 VW's affected have been detected, to me in this country is considerable
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/286008/vw-identifies-first-emission-cheating-nz-cars

tintop, Dec 3, 2:20am
Never saw the sun disappear in an orange blanket at 3 in the afternoon in Los Angeles back in the 70's did you.

Thats pretty well where the push for lower emissions came from.

https://jussiparikka.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/smog460x276.jpg

gram, Dec 3, 3:50am
There is nothing factual about a lawyer being quoted in the media.

One used car deal, Coventry Cars in Wellington, said it would have no problem with someone wanting to trade in a Volkswagen vehicle, on another.
"What I think is happening is that some dealers will use the scandal as leverage to give the car owners as little as possible for the vehicle, they're trying to take advantage of a situation that is not even affecting New Zealand," sales manager Anthony Blanche said.

richardmayes, Dec 3, 4:05am
This emissions test "pants down" moment will recede further and further into history.

VW dealerships will continue to dangle very desirable cars in front of an admiring public.

They'll get through this just fine.

vtecintegra, Dec 3, 4:08am
It's the final nail in the coffin for diesel cars though - their days were numbered before the scandal but this has certainly sped things up.

It's also ruined 'Strategy 2018'

richardmayes, Dec 3, 4:19am
Will it hurt Hyundai though?

As a member of the general unwashed public, my perception of small high-tech common rail turbo diesels is that they are probably the way of the future.

And my perception of Hyundai is that they are the "other" big player in small high-tech diesels for passenger cars - and they appear to be quite independent of the european diesel cars which all appear to be sharing each other's technology and engines left right and centre. And Hyundai cars and SUVs are now just generally a LOT flasher than they were a few years ago.

They could stand to pick up a few customers just on a platform of "Well OUR common rail turbo diesels aren't dodgy! Why would you pay twice the price for a European one when ours actually ARE as good as we say they are?"

(I know this is a bunch of stereotypes, but surely that's what sells hundreds of thousands of widgets every year!)