sears1234

Volkswagen's huge emissions scandal is still unfolding, but it hasn't stopped the German company from dethroning Toyota as the world's biggest selling automaker.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/30/news...inkId=33945880

greg3852

Probably inflated the numbers. lol

jadu

iTrader: (42)

vw is gonna need all that revenue

mmarshall

I think that the large settlements themselves that VW paid (and is still paying out) to diesel-owners actually helped spur new sales. Not all car-owners affected by the scandal actually wanted to dump VW or switch to another company......for whatever reason, they may still like VW products. With that settlement check in their hands, there's an instant down-payment (or lease payment) on a new VW.

TRDRAV4

They dumped them all in China...that's why.

mmarshall

China doesn't allow dumping by other countries. In fact, the Chinese are usually the ones that end up doing the dumping themselves.

TangoRed

Sales were down in the U.S. and other countries didn't receive buybacks like we did.

mmarshall

True, but, like with Buick and Cadillac, China is one of VW's most lucrative markets.

Fizzboy7

Most VW owners I spoke to were feeling like they robbed a bank with the deal offered to them. They all planned on keeping their polluting cars and collecting the big cash payout. So not sure if that weighed in on sales or not. Either way, I'm a bit surprised. This kind of sends a signal that maybe people don't care as much about reliability, but more about styling and that German car feel. VW also had some wild discounts in the last few months. Hard to say.

TRDRAV4

Hard to say...from what I know, most VW owners aren't scraping by. Most are well off and obviously can afford the repairs (or just dump it and go to Honda/Toyota). While I don't think VW has the loyalty that Toyota has, for some of the owners, no other manufacturer offers them a diesel turbocharged wagon (some with stick) comparable to their Golf or Jetta. And yeah, a lot of them think a Toyota or Honda is too mainstream for them. To each their own!

TRDRAV4

Dumping is an exaggeration I know, I don't think your sense of humor caught on...

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bus...rown/97273216/

Aron9000

They must be real popular in China, cause VW doesn't sell jack in my neck of the woods. Kia, Hyundia, even Mazda seems to be more popular around here than VW cars.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

the scandal had nothing to do with reliability of course, but reminds me of the 'tragedy of the commons' again... people go "yay, i support efforts to stop global warming. wait, and give up my vw because of a scandal, no way! or take an awesome deal on another one? heck yeah!"

we must all realize the u.s. is becoming a smaller and smaller market globally.

S2000toIS350

Consistent with MM's point, friends of ours got a payout for their Passat diesel and traded it for a Q5 with a gasoline engine

TangoRed

Like I said earlier, that really wasn't even the case here as sales were still down in the U.S. They still bled a notable amount in a year where almost everyone else was up.

The U.S. arm hasn't contributed a ton of money to VW's bottom line for a very long time. Even when they tried to maximize sales here with cars like the Passat and Jetta it didn't take off like it was supposed to.