[THE INVESTOR] Volkswagen’s sales in South Korea in the first six months slipped from a year ago, hit by the widening investigations into the German automaker’s emission scandal, industry data showed on July 6.

The number of VW vehicles sold in January-June came in at 12,463 units, a 33.1 percent decrease from the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. 

June sales plummeted by more than half to 1,834 from a year ago, when it sold 4,321 units.

Sales of Audi, one of Volkswagen Group’s high-end brands, came in at 13,058 units in the first half of the year, losing 10.3 percent on-year.

The declines come after prosecutors discovered that Audi Volkswagen Korea manipulated emission and noise-level tests of the defect cars to secure approval to import them.

Due to loss in sales of VW and Audi -- which have enjoyed great popularity here -- the total imported vehicle sales for the first half of the year dropped 2.6 percent from a year ago. This is the first time that imported car sales have shown a year-on-year decline since 2009.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)