Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal began to hit vehicle sales in October, a leading car consultancy said, with the German group losing ground in Western Europe, where overall market growth slowed to 2.7%.
Registrations rose to 1.06 million cars last month from 1.03 million the previous October, based on published national data and smaller market estimates compiled by LMC Automotive.
VW Group sales were down 2.7% in the five biggest markets - Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain - while industry registrations in those markets expanded 2%, according to the leading automotive consulting firm.
Because car deliveries typically occur several weeks after purchase decisions, however, the full sales repercussions of VW's September 18 admission of diesel test-rigging will become more apparent in November registrations.
The October numbers equated to a seasonally adjusted selling rate of 13.05 million cars per year, LMC said, a 2% decline from September's 13.31 million rate - but still almost 1 million cars above the 2014 total.
