VW won’t sell diesels in 2017

Volkswagen Canada will not offer any diesel-powered vehicles for the 2017 model year as the company continues to deal with the fallout from its emissions-rigging scandal.

“We will not offer a diesel in our cars for the 2017 model year. Beyond that, we will examine each carline individually,” company spokesman Thomas Tetzlaff said.

The news comes after Volkswagen brand chief executive Herbert Diess said earlier this week the automaker will no longer offer diesel vehicles in the United States.

Diesel sales were suspended in September 2015 after revelations the company installed so-called“defeat devices” that turned ononly when a car was undergoing emissions testing.

North America was never a strong market for Volkswagen’s diesels, even before the scandal hit.

About 100,000 Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars were sold in Canada between 2009 and 2015.

For popular models like the Jetta and the Golf, about one-quarter of Canadian sales were diesel-engine models.

Overall, diesels represented about three per cent of the North American car market in 2015, compared with more than half the market in Western Europe.

The emissions scandal has taken its toll on Volkswagen’s sales in Canada, which are down 13.9 per cent year-to-date. The brand has captured 3.2 per cent of the Canadian vehicle market this year, down from 3.8 per cent last year.

Sales of the Audi luxury brand appear to have escaped the fallout and are up 15.2 per cent year-todate.

Volkswagen has said it will shift its focus to electric vehicles and SUVs in an attempt to improve its image and revitalize sales.

Its goal is to sell at least one million electric vehicles by 2025, when it also aims to hit a pre-tax profit margin of six per cent and generate one billion euros of additional revenue from in-car digital services.

However, it has also acknowledged that it will take a decade to rebuild the brand in the United States.

The company said recently that it will cut 30,000 jobs worldwide.

Volkswagen AG recently reached a US$14.7-billion settlement with 475,000 American owners of diesel vehicles, plus federal and California regulators, over the emissions scandal.

A Canadian court case is ongoing, with the next hearings scheduled for Dec. 19 and 20.

SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES Following the announcement that Volkswagen will no longer sell diesel vehicles in the U.S., Volkswagen Canada announced it won’t be selling diesels in Canada in 2017. The move comes after the scandal last year relating to built-in false...