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Emissions scandal: VW car sales drop 20% in UK

London, England — Volkswagen car sales in Britain dropped by almost 20% in November compared with the same period in 2014r as the company's emissions testing scandal took a toll.

There were 12 958 Volkswagen registrations in November 2015 in the UK, compared to 16 196 in November 2014, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Friday (December 4).

Domino effect

Overall auto sales rose by 3.8%, that saw Volkswagen's market share in Britain drop to 7.2% from 9.4% a year earlier. Other automaker's in the Volkswagen Group, such as SEAT, Skoda and Porsche, also suffered negative UK sales.

The drop in sales was similar to the 25% slump reported in the United States, the epicenter of Volkswagen's scandal. The company, which rivals Toyota for the title as world's largest car maker, admitted in September that its diesel vehicles had cheated on US emissions tests.

The sales numbers for November are closely watched in part because of a lag of several weeks between the time a car is purchased and registered. The month's figures for the wider European Union are due on Dec. 15.

Volkswagen says it had installed the cheating software in 11 million cars globally.

It admitted that 482 000 2.0-litre and 85 000 six-cylinder diesel vehicles in the US contained the software. In Europe, about 8.5 million cars have it, though there is no confirmation the cars cheated on European tests.

Volkswagen has set aside $7.2 billion to cover the cost of fixing the cars, but experts say the scandal will cost the company much more, in part through lost sales.

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