Embroiled in the worst scandal in its 78-year history, Volkswagen had to see this coming.
On Tuesday, USA Today reported that the embattled automaker's U.S. sales for the month of November dropped a whopping 25 percent to 23,882 vehicles. There's little doubt that the free-fall in sales is directly tied to VW's emissions scandal, which has damaged its reputation in the States and abroad.
"It looks like this was the month that it finally caught up to them on the sales side," AutoTrader.com analyst Michelle Krebs told USA Today.
That's largely due to the stop-sale order that Volkswagen self-imposed, prohibiting U.S. dealers from selling its cars until it can fix the manipulated vehicles from its emissions cheating scandal.
The company's smaller cars suffered the worst dip in sales, with purchases of the Passat sedan plunging 60 percent and the Beetle falling 39 percent last month.
"Volkswagen is working tirelessly on an approved remedy for the affected diesel vehicles," Mark McNabb, VW's U.S. COO, said in a statement, as reported by USA Today. "During this time we would like to thank our dealers and customers for their continued patience and loyalty."
Although the battered brand hit its deadline last week in submitting its plan to fix four-cylinder diesel vehicles affected by the emissions scandal in Europe, VW has yet to roll out details for its American fixes, and customers could simply be fed up at this point — offering another explanation for why sales dropped so dramatically.
The automaker plans to make the 11 million faulty diesel vehicles comply with emissions regulations beginning in January and ending the massive recall in late 2016.
If VW is going to dig its way out of this trudge, time is of the essence, and at least providing American customers with details might help somewhat.
With sales plummeting by 25 percent in November, how will the automaker's U.S. sales fare in December to end this forgettable year?
