Volkswagen loses sales in Canada amid scandal

VW, Audi brands see declines as automaker faces aftermath of diesel-emission revelations

Volkswagen’s Canadian sales fell in September and its share of the country’s automobile market slid amid a scandal over its diesel emissions tests.

VW’s sales fell 19.6 per cent from a year ago, while Audi’s sales dropped 13.2 per cent. Total light-vehicle car sales in Canada rose 3.7 per cent in September from a year earlier.

The combined market share of Volkswagen and Audi cars fell to 4.2 per cent in September, from about 5.3 per cent the month before.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s U.S. division said it sold 26,141 vehicles in September, up slightly from the 25,996 sold in the same month a year earlier.

Volkswagen’s Audi brand, whose A3 diesel version is its only model caught up in the emissions-rigging scandal, was mostly unaffected. Audi reported that domestic sales in September increased 16.2 per cent to 17,340 vehicles.

“Volkswagen’s deception is dominating headlines, but it is not keeping shoppers away from other brands’ showrooms,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at auto information company Edmunds.com.

U.S regulators announced two weeks ago there is test-evading software on cars with VW’s two-litre, four-cylinder diesel engines. The software detects when the vehicles are undergoing emissions testing and changes how they perform to make it appear as if they meet pollution requirements.

The vehicles, however, were emitting as much as 40 times the allowable amount of smog-forming nitrogen oxide when they were driving on roads and not undergoing tests.

The scandal forced the company to halt sales of its Volkswagen and Audi cars equipped with the diesel engines, sparked investigations on both sides of the Atlantic and triggered the resignation of its chief executive.