Volkswagen Diesel Prices Plunge 16%

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Volkswagen has been haunted by the legal and reputation cost from what is viewed as fraud about emissions from its diesel engines. As might be expected, the price consumers will pay for these cars has plummeted. According to research from Kelley Blue Book (KBB), prices for VW diesel models have dropped 16%. And fewer people are shopping for the diesel models.

The trends observed by KBB have to damage VW dealers and current owners more than anyone else. Inventory of diesel models stay on dealer lots, either unsold or sold at discounts that make their sale a financial loss. The price drop affects the owners due to a fall-off in the resale value of their cars. This second issue will trigger owner suits against the huge car company.

The research firm disclosed:

Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com … report that average auction prices, along with new-car shopping activity on KBB.com, for Volkswagen diesel vehicles have declined four weeks after the diesel emissions issue was announced.

The average auction price for Volkswagen diesel models dropped by nearly 16 percent since the news broke of the emissions crisis. The average auction price for the brand’s gasoline-powered vehicles declined by 2.9 percent.1 On KBB.com, Volkswagen new-car shopping activity for affected TDI models has decreased on average by 2.4 percent

While shopping at KBB is not the same as data reported directly by dealers, it is almost certainly directionally correct.

Because people looking for new or used VW diesels eventually will buy alternatives, other car companies will certainly benefit. These manufacturers and their dealers probably have begun offering their similar vehicles as alternatives with similar mileage and features, which likely will drop demand for VW diesel cars further and continue to negatively affect their prices.

VW’s problems have spread well beyond the company itself, which will add to its problems substantially as the scandal goes forward.

ALSO READ: The 10 Cheapest Cars in America

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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