VW Korea vies to resume sales soon
Volkswagen Korea is striving to resume sales, while its sister brands — Audi and Bentley — have made major progress to rebuild their reputations here.
A Volkswagen Korea official said Thursday it has put forth great efforts to market its models again for the first time since the global emissions-rigging scandal broke in 2015. But observers say the German carmaker’s unit here would be able to restart its engines as late as July.
According to sources, Volkswagen’s luxury affiliate brand Bentley started selling the Bentayga SUV this month. Bentley’s first SUV model gained certification here in March.
Along with the Bentayga SUV, Bentley also resumed sales of its three vehicles — the Flying Spur V8, Continental GT V8 and Continental GT Convertible — this month.
The three were the most popular models among the Bentley lineup, but the government suspended their sales last August after they were found to have cheated on a noise level test. They got the green light to resume sales last month.
Volkswagen’s other sister brand Audi also asked for the government to approve sales of the Audi S3 high-performance sports sedan, RS7 4.0 TFSI Quattro, RS7 Plus and A8 60 TFSI Quattro earlier this month.
They all also faced a sales ban last year in the aftermath of “diesel gate.” Audi expects it will be able to market the four models by the end of this July.
While Audi and Bentley are gearing up in preparation for a comeback, Volkswagen still struggles to gain the official go-ahead.
“Unlike the luxury and performance models of Bentley and Audi, the Volkswagen lineup is made up of volume models. We are approaching the case more carefully with Korean customers,” a Volkswagen Korea official said.
“We are focusing on the recall process for affected models.”
Volkswagen submitted the recall plan for its most popular Tiguan SUV, and the government approved its plan to recall 27,000 units this January after rejecting similar proposals three times.