A quick note to provide additional information as it relates to the overall Volkswagen brand. The following insight is courtesy of Swapalease.com, which has been monitoring activity of Volkswagen lease drivers and shoppers considering the brand:

• Number of listings in the transfer marketplace have jumped 20% from Sept. to Oct. (# of people looking to escape their VW lease)
• Number of actual transfers are down -50% so far in Oct. compared with Sept. levels (fewer shoppers want to take over a VW lease)
• Number of people searching for VW on the site is down -7.3% from Sept. to Oct. (less consideration and interest in the brand)

*These numbers represent all VW inventory on the site, not just the affected diesel models.

“I think these numbers definitely indicate that the Volkswagen brand has had a negative impact on a fair amount of the lease population in just a short amount of time,” said Scot Hall, Executive Vice President of Swapalease.com. “While it’s still early in the process, this tells us that a growing segment of the Volkswagen lease population no longer feels confident enough about the brand to complete the remainder of their lease contract and would be more comfortable driving a different vehicle.”