Volkswagen’s Chattanooga-made Passat suffered another month of sharply lower sales compared with a year ago in December as the German automaker sustained an overall drop in sales while it works to fix its diesel-powered engines to comply with U.S. air emission standards.
Passat sales plunged 56.4 percent in December in the U.S. while VW posted a 9 percent total drop for the brand even as nearly all other carmakers reported big monthly gains.
Akshay Anand, a Kelley Blue Book analyst, said the Passat was hit by a model changeover, a lack of a diesel version to sell due to the emissions scandal as well as a soft market for midsize sedans.
Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Dozens of new Passats made at the Chattanooga Volkswagen assembly plant are seen parked outside the plant. These cars will be used as demos for testing, internal quality control and media test drives.VW’s December sales
Vehicle, sales and percent change over a year ago:› Golf — 5,715, up 29.7 percent› Jetta — 14,073, down 9.7 percent› Beetle — 1,311, down 42.2 percent› Eos — 242, up 18.6 percent› Passat — 3,596, down 56.4 percent› CC — 633, up 1.6 percent>› Tiguan — 4,900, up 131.6 percent› Touareg — 486, down 19.7 percent› Total — 30,956, down 9.1 percentSource: Volkswagen of America
The front of the redesigned version of the Chattanooga-made Passat for the 2016 model year is shown.
“The drop was pretty steep,” he said. “It’s a challenging environment for midsize sedans.”