Sales Figures Seem To Show VW Beginning To Lose Scandal Stigma

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Submitted by Marc Stern on January 5, 2017 - 3:39PM

Slowly the tide is beginning to turn for VW. For the last few months, sales have been building to the point where sales figures showed very positive results with the automaker's best December ever.

It seems as if Volkswagen has started turning the page on its diesel emissions scandal as December sales jumped 20.3 percent over last December with 37,229 vehicles delivered. Sales had been dragged down by the Dieselgate scandal and only in the last several months have sales turned around.

That sales had been off for part of the year can be seen by the fact that the automaker delivered a total of 322,948 vehicles for the year, a 7.6 percent decrease over 2015.

Tiguan Has Best Month

According to sales figures released by VW Wednesday, the compact crossover Tiguan had its best month ever in December with the delivery of 5,575 vehicles. It is a 13.8 percent increase over a year ago.

Deliveries of Golfs were at 8,968 vehicles. The figure is a 56.9 percent increase over a year ago. There are several versions of the Golf available. Sales of the performance-oriented Golf GTi were up 17.2 percent for December at 2,777 vehicles. The figure is the best month ever for the Golf GTi.

Sales of the Golf SportWagen were 3,331. That number marked a 271.5 percent increase over December 2015. These figures include the all-new Alltrack.

With construction at the Chattanooga plant completed, assembly lines are cranking out copies of the Atlas, slated to go on sale in the spring. The three-row large crossover is the first U.S.-made and marketed SUV aimed specifically at North America. Meantime, copies of the Passat, already being built at the factory, were up 101.4 percent over December 2015 to 7,241 vehicles.

Two Models Have Best Years

Some calendar year highlights include:

  • There were 43,638 Tiguans delivered in 2016. The figure represents a 21.7 percent increase over 2015, making 2016 the best year ever for the crossover.
  • There were 23,934 Golf GTis delivered in 2016. This figure represents a 1.1 percent increase over 2015, making 2016 the best year ever for the compact performance hatchback.