VW Brand Sales Drop 18%

Global sales by Volkswagen Group’s VW brand shrank 18% in September, mainly because of Europe’s changeover to a new emission certification system.

September sales sagged to 485,000 units from 593,700 vehicles in the same period last year, led by a 43% plunge to 91,100 cars in Europe. But sales also fell in China (-11% to 277,800 units) and the U.S. (-5% to 30,600).

VW Group had been signaling for months that its sales and production volumes would suffer through the remainder of 2018 from delays in certifying its models under the new WLTP (world harmonized light vehicle test procedure) that took effect on Sept. 1. The switch triggered abnormally high sales in August, as consumers scrambled to buy remaining models certified under Europe’s 48-year-old NEDC (New European Driving Cycle).

The company, which says it has now certified the most popular versions of all 14 VW brand models, predicts a sales recovery will begin next month. VW sales through the first nine months of 2018 rose 3% to a record 4.62 million units.