Volkswagen:Sales Drop for First Time in 11 Years

German carmaker Volk- swagen has posted its first drop in VW brand sales in 11 years as the company continues to cope with its emissions scandal.

Sales of VW brand cars fell 4.8% in 2015 to 5.82 million cars from 6.12 million a year earlier.

Falling demand in China and US added to the losses as orders fell in December.

VW has promised it will have a fix in the coming weeks for the millions of US cars with defeat devices that disguised emission levels in diesel cars.

Sales began declining after the scandal came to light in September. Deliveries fell 5.3% in October， 2.4% in November and 7.9% in December compared with those months the previous year.

The underperformance at VWs largest division by sales and revenue pulled down annual group deliveries by 2% to 9.93 million cars， the first drop in 13 years， VW said.

However， speaking in January 2015， Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess said he was “optimistic” the company would find a solution soon.

“We will bring a package together which satisfies our customers first and foremost and then also the regulators，”said Mr Diess.

Regulators appear been less confident. The Environmental Protection Agency （EPA） which uncovered the scandal， said that VW had not yet “not produced an acceptable way forward”.

The company will meet US regulators in Washington to discuss its plan.

Volkswagen Global Sales 2.2 per cent Lower in November amid Scandal

Volkswagen said that its global sales were 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year earlier， with increases in western European and Chinese deliveries helping cushion the impact of steep drops in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The German automaker， whose brands include Audi， Porsche and Seat as well as the core Volkswagen marque， has been hit by fallout from the diesel emissions-cheating scandal that erupted in mid-September in the U.S. and then spread worldwide.

The company said it delivered 833，700 vehicles worldwide last month， down from 852，900 in November 2014.

While U.S. sales were off 15.3 per cent at 45，300 units， and there were steeper drops in Brazil and Russia amid unrelated economic troubles， deliveries in western Europe were up 2.6 per cent at 270，400 and sales in China rose 5.5 per cent to 329，000.

Unlike in the U.S.， there has been no confirmation Volkswagen cheated on European emissions tests. It will nevertheless recall some 8.5 million cars across the region to fix their emissions systems.endprint

For the years first 11 months， group deliveries fell 1.7 per cent to nearly 9.1 million from the previous years 9.26 million.

The company didnt give a breakdown for sales of vehicles with diesel and gasoline engines.

CEO Matthias Mueller acknowledged that “the Volkswagen Group and its brands are currently experiencing challenging times.”

“At the same time， we are pleased that our customers are remaining loyal to us， especially in this situation， and continue to place their trust in us，” he said in a statement.

The core Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand saw deliveries drop 2.4 per cent to 496，100 vehicles in November， while January-November sales were down 4.5 per cent to some 5.34 million. The brand delivered 6.12 million cars in total last year.

VW brand sales executive Juergen Stackmann noted the drop through No- vember and said： “in view of the situation of the brand， which is currently challenging， I do not expect that we will be able to compensate for this fall in the remaining days of the year.”

US Charges

In January， the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against VW for the use of the emissions devices， which involve computer software that can detect when cars are being tested.

The Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said that the company was not cooperating with the investigation.

Volkswagen has been withholding corporate emails between executive related to the emissions scandal， using German law as the basis for the refusal.

“I find it frustrating that， despite public statements professing cooperation and an expressed desire to resolve the various investigations that it faces following its calculated deception， Volkswagen is， in fact， resisting cooperation by citing German law，” Mr Jepsen said in a statement.

Car Industry Record Year

In 2015， a record 17.47 million cars were sold， according to Autodata. The car data firm has been keeping records since 1980.

General Motors， one of the biggest US car firms， had an 8% increase in sales.

Mercedes-Benz USA had its most successful year since entering the country， with sales rising 3.8%.

The UK also had a record year for car sales. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders， 2.63 million cars were registered， beating the previous record from 2003.endprint