Volkswagen’s premium brand Audi on Friday stated it expected sales in Europe to fluctuate in the upcoming months after a 55.5 percent fall in September sales because of supply bottlenecks caused by stricter anti-pollution rules.
Last month VW Group’s sales dropped by half in Europe’s five biggest markets, as per analysts at Citi, after several top selling models failed to conform to new the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test (WLTP) regulations.
Audi’s monthly sales dropped by 69.4 percent in Germany, while China deliveries boosted 12.5 percent and sales in North America increased 1.2 percent, the automaker stated.
“Following above-average sales results in Europe during the past two months due to the sell-off of models in stock, the increasingly empty stores and the restrictions in the sales portfolio had an adverse effect on deliveries in September,” Audi stated.
Some of the supply bottlenecks that have reduced sales of VW’s namesake brand, however, are now easing, VW stated.
“Presently we have WLTP certification for volume sellers for all of our 14 models,” it stated.
“Further vehicle variants will gain their product release shortly,” VW stated, adding that by year-end it would be able to offer close to all models to consumers.
