Still unable to reach an agreement with United States regulators over a proposal to fix nearly 600,000 vehicles, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Volkswagen's sales declined in the country.
CBS News is reporting that Volkswagen vehicle sales in the U.S. dropped seven percent in January, largely due to the reputation hit that the automaker has taken over its emissions scandal.
Although a sales decline in the U.S. was to be expected, the embattled automaker's worldwide sales increased by 3.7 percent last month — especially aided by the strong gains it experienced in China, where vehicle sales jumped 14 percent.
That being said, while VW was granted approval to begin its recall on 8.5 million faulty diesel vehicles in Europe, it has yet to even reach a proposal for such a fix in the U.S.
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) rejected the automaker's plan to make two-liter diesel cars compliant with emissions regulations, with the latter agency even calling the proposal for 580,000 affected cars "unacceptable."
Since then, VW has been unable to present a recall package and plan that works with the EPA and CARB.
The automaker is in such a tough position that just last week, it announced the postponement of its annual earnings reports presentation, which was scheduled for March 10, and its annual shareholders meeting, which was slated for April 21.
That news followed the company's second-largest shareholder giving VW until that April date to come clean about the origins of its emissions scandal, so it isn't yet known what the delaying of that shareholders meeting means to the enforcing of that deadline.
