US brands gain from Volkswagen woes as Europe sales soar

European car sales rose 13.7% in November, according to industry data published yesterday, with US brands gaining strongly as Volkswagen continued to pay for its diesel emissions test-rigging scandal.

Registrations rose to 1.12m cars last month from 989,758 a year earlier, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers said, with Ford and Opel among the best performers.

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker by sales, saw its core brand market share tumble to 12.2% from 13.5%, as sales edged just 3.1% higher, underperforming the market.