Scandal-hit Volkswagen sees sales fall 2 percent in 2015

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which uncovered the scandal, said on Monday that VW had not yet “not produced an acceptable way forward”. The U.S. Justice Department and German prosecutors are also investigating the automaker, which has said up to 11 million vehicles worldwide had the software. The figures announced on Friday were for all Volkswagen’s brands, including Seat and Skoda as well as luxury makes Audi and Porsche.

The so-called defeat devices turn on pollution controls when the auto is undergoing testing, and off when it is back on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of nitrogen oxide.

The possible buy back of the cars by VW – which will mark an extraordinary move by the company – is apparently part of the automaker’s attempts to fulfill the demands of regulators.

The attorneys general of NY and CT, who are leading a separate probe by more than 40 U.S. states, on Friday accused the carmaker of hiding behind German privacy laws in refusing to turn over emails and documents. “Our patience with Volkswagen is wearing thin”, Schneiderman said. A class action in Australia has followed.

Vehicles with an engine capacity of less than 2 liters were most popular, taking up 55.8 percent of the total sales.

Full-year sales at the 12-brand group fell 2 percent to 9.93 million autos from the record 10.14 million in 2014, the first drop since 2002.

“Delivering nearly 10m vehicles is an excellent result, particularly in view of the continued challenging market situation in some regions as well as the diesel issue in the final quarter of past year”, its chief executive, Matthias Müller, said.

Volkswagen also said sales of its namesake brand slid 7.9% in December from the previous month a year earlier, to 487,700 cars, and were down 4.8% for all of 2015, the first annual decline since 2004.