Scottish new car sales fall sharply as VW fallout hits

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) recorded a total of 13,459 registrations in October - down by 17.1 per cent on the same period last year.

Volkswagen group sales north of the border fell by 16 per cent.

Sales of its Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen brands were all down, although Audi showed some growth.

The motor group has been embroiled in controversy over the level of emissions from its diesel and petrol cars.

The latest Scottish figures contrasted sharply with overall UK car sales in October, which showed a drop of just 1.1 per cent.

In a statement, the Scottish Motor Trade Association said: “There is of course the ongoing ‘issues’ surrounding the VW stable of brands which will have brought a degree of uncertainty into the retail market on which Scotland depends so heavily.

“We are however confident that VW Group through its excellent dealer network structure will resolve this situation given time to apply the manufacture reworks to affected vehicles.”

The top selling car in Scotland last month was the Vauxhall Corsa (699 units), followed by the Ford Fiesta (541) and Ford Focus (353).

On a regional basis, sales in Strathclyde fell year-on-year by more than 26 per cent to 6,402, while registrations were also well down in Grampian (-13.7 per cent) and the Highlands (-15.2 per cent). Only Tayside saw an increase, with sales up by nearly 5 per cent.

Despite the year-on-year decline in overall registrations, sales for the first 10 months of this year were slightly up on the same period in 2014.