Emission scam reports hit Volkswagen’s sales

And quite obviously, at least a fraction of customers is now on the fence about buying the brand, and Volkswagen dealers seem to be having a hard time convincing potential buyers, especially after the company’s India arm stopped sale of all Polo variants in this market citing technical reasons.

Dealers in Chennai admit a slowdown is on its way, but hope the numbers will shift gears soon. Bookings for hatchback Polo and sedan Vento have dropped ever since the scandal broke out, confirmed city-based dealers.

“The company has three dealers in Chennai and together we used to sell about 300 cars a month. But in September we sold about 240 cars. It’s a minor blip through,” said Hrdayah Raj, showroom manager, KUN Capital Motors, one of the three official dealers of Volkswagen. “In the past two days, we got five bookings for Polo and one for Vento,” Raj said.

“Yes, bookings and enquires will be affected for the time being but the trend will not last long. But this happens with all carmakers. Only a batch of diesel variant of Polo has been held in India,” said Chander K, showroom manager, Sundaram Motors, another dealer in the city.

“Volkswagen wants to deliver foolproof products to customers,” Chander added, admitting that the company is getting enquiries from customers about the emission issues. “Emission issues are a concern only for European and US market, not for India as our standards are different. We are trying to convince the customers and are creating awareness.” he said.

But not many seem to be convinced. “I was very fond of Polo and wanted to go for a diesel version. Now these controversies over emission fudging and the recent announcement of Polo sales being held, have forced me to rethink my plan,” said T. Thirunavakarasu, an IT professional from Ambattur.

Another Polo customer from the city Ummer Farook said he is a “proud” owner of Polo since 2012 and would recommend it to friends. “But now I am in two minds. I have sent a mail to the company enquiring about the issues and nobody got back,” he said, adding that he was satisfied with the performance of the car till date.

Even though Volkswagen India is yet to release sales figures for September, industry watchers said the German auto major’s sales have dropped last month after seven months of consistent growth. Industry watchers pegged the sales number for September at about 3,230 units, the lowest in 15 months. This was 21 per cent lower than the company’s sales in the same month a year ago.