Volkswagen Dealers Are Running Out Of Cars

2016 Volkswagen Passat (Credit: Volkswagen )

The whole Dieselgate drama has taken an interesting turn. After we reported last week that dealers have been experiencing trouble selling VWs, a flood of reports today indicate that Volkswagen dealers across the nation are actually running out vehicles, especially the most popular models.

At first glance, this seems to be a direct contradiction of the hard numbers that Autolist provided last week. The reality is that Autolist was looking at how long used Volkswagens are sitting on dealer lots, which is becoming a growing problem as shoppers are weary of the total cost of recall repairs and any accompanying performance ramifications.

The Automotive News report focuses on new car sales, which are booming. As Autolist points out, many car shoppers figure there’s no way a 2016 Volkswagen Passat TDI is still loaded with any emissions cheats, making it a safe purchase. Combine that with the incentives VW is throwing at consumers and dealers, and many people are highly tempted to snatch up a quality vehicle at a bargain price.

On the flip side, used car lots are struggling to unload not only TDI models that are affected by the recall, but also gas-powered Volkswagens that were made between 2009 and 2015. This situation looks to only worsen in the coming weeks and months, with the exact effects of the backlog still coming into focus. In other words, nobody really knows what will happen with all of those used VWs consumers view as a problem.

Volkswagen has been reevaluating everything about its activities and looking for ways to cut unnecessary costs so it can ride out the storm. That means everything from the future Porsche small sedan to the three-row Volkswagen SUV is under considerable scrutiny. At the same time, VW is running overtime to convince the public that it has indeed turned over a new leaf, including making it public that it’s actually incentivizing employees to blow the whistle on any emissions cheating schemes.

The whole situation with Volkswagen is very much fluid right now, with things changing on an almost daily basis. Stay tuned for more updates.