Volkswagen USA Sales Were Declining Rapidly Before Diesel Emissions Scandal

In 2012, Volkswagen's U.S. sales volume rose to the highest level since 1973. Through the first quarter of 2013, sales had risen in 31 consecutive months. Volkswagen Of America's market share grew from 1.4% in 2007 to 3.0% in 2012.

But then came 18 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. sales decline for the Volkswagen brand, consecutive annual decreases in 2013 and 2014, and a market share drop back to 2.2%. As Volkswagen sales plunged, the overall U.S. market surged.

"Following 2012’s elation," I wrote on TTAC today, "all of these disappointments came before we learned that the 2.0-liter diesel engine fitted to more than one-in-five Volkswagen of America products is a scandal-ridden, emissions-test-cheating, NOx-spewing anchor around VW’s neck."

The most recent evidence of disappointment came in the form of August 2015's sales results. Here they are in full, directly from VWoA's release from Tuesday, September 1, 2015.

VW	August 2015	August 2014	% change	2015 YTD	2014 YTD	% change
Golf	1,873	1,773	5.6%	15,000	7,175	109%
GTI	1,907	2,026	-5.9%	14,992	10,524	42.5%
Golf R	436	---	---	2,239	15	14,827%
e-Golf	381	---	---	2,212	---	---
Golf SportWagen	2,478	----	---	10,073	---	---
Total Golf Family	7,075	3,799	86.2%	44,516	17,714	151%
Jetta Sedan	11,002	13,406	-17.9%	87,047	90,162	-3.5%
Jetta SportWagen	110	1,955	-94.4%	2,645	14,648	-81.9%
Total Jetta	11,112	15,361	-27.7%	89,692	104,810	-14.4%
Beetle Coupe	1,287	1,744	-26.2%	9,846	12,265	-19.7%
Beetle Convertible	840	1,161	-27.6%	7,681	9,220	-16.7%
Total Beetle	2,127	2,905	-26.8%	17,527	21,485	-18.4%
Eos	208	302	-31.1%	1,800	2,603	-30.8%
Passat	7,409	9,190	-19.4%	56,508	67,633	-16.4%
CC	546	787	-30.6%	4,106	7,530	-45.5%
Tiguan	3,165	2,151	47.1%	19,249	17,446	10.3%
Touareg	690	686	0.6%	4,676	4,554	2.7%
Routan	---	---	---	---	1,103	-100%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	32,332	35,181	-8.1%	238,074	244,878	-2.8%

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.