VW sales hit record despite ‘dieselgate’

VOLKSWAGEN sold 10.3 million cars worldwide last year, a new record for the beleaguered German vehicle giant, despite grappling with a massive emissions cheating scandal.

Sales for the VW group, which includes the Audi, Porsche and Skoda brands, increased 3.8% on the year, the company said yesterday.

The results come as the group’s “dieselgate” crisis is back in the spotlight after the arrest in Miami on Monday of a VW executive, accused of allegedly helping to cover up the scandal.

VW admitted in September 2015 to having installed “defeat devices” – designed to reduce cars’ emissions of harmful nitrogen oxide when the software detected they were undergoing regulatory tests – in 11 million vehicles worldwide.

The scandal harmed Volkswagen’s reputation and sent its share price plunging, but customers appear to have largely shrugged off the controversy.

VW has responded to the crisis with a management shake-up and by shifting its focus to clean-energy vehicles, setting out to be the world’s leader in electric cars by 2025.

“Last year was a challenging year for us,” chief executive Matthias Mueller said in response to the record results.

“We made strides in resolving and overcoming the diesel crisis and at the same time initiated a fundamental change process.”

Sales were driven by strong growth in China, where deliveries were up 12%. Europe saw growth of 4%.

However, in the US, where customers have taken mass legal action to secure compensation from VW, sales were down 2.8% over the year.

VW’s main rival, Toyota, has yet to announce its full-year sales figures, but it said last month that it expected to have delivered at least 10 million vehicles worldwide.