05 October 2015

While I normally talk to a fair number of auto industry folk in the course of any month and in September (and March) that’s doubly so, but because of the ‘dieselgate’ shenanigans this September has been somewhat of a record month for conversations about how new car sales and registrations are performing.

Dieselgate to one side, all the comments I’ve heard suggest that it’s been a tough month for retail registrations. Several sources claim that retail registration figures for the month could well be down on September 2014 when they are revealed on Tuesday.

While the Volkswagen trouble happened mid-month with some claiming this has had an impact across the board (not just at VW Group retailers), trading was already being described as “tough”. 

However, while the September slowdown may not have been initially caused by dieselgate, it seems like the slowdown may be perpetuated by it.

The trouble is, I would expect it to take weeks, if not months, before VW gets to the root its problems in Europe and only then can reputations start to be rebuilt. In the meantime we must hope that individual buyers are more realistic in their approach to a new car than the perceived wider public opinion. 

Tristan Young

Editorial Director

Auto Retail Network

Tags: dieselgate, fall, registrations, retail, sales, September, Volkswagen, VW