VW sees May sales decline as diesel scandal roils

With a push from sales of its small SUV and a performance model, Volkswagen was able to hold its sales decline in May to 17.2% in May compared to the same month last year.

May's total of 28,779 wasn't bad considering that VW is still reeling from its diesel emissions scandal, which put about 20% of the vehicles it had previously sold off sale because they can't meet government standards. VW has admitted that it rigged 11 million cars around the world with software that allows them to beat emissions tests, a move that soured its image with consumers and forced it to stop selling diesel-powered models in the U.S.

For the first five months of the year, VW sales are off 13%, which isn't bad either in light of the scandal.

VW was able to keep its sales vibrant during the month with help from Tiguan, its small SUV, which saw a 42.7% sales boost. VW also said it was the best ever month for its Golf R performance model, up 38.8% to 433 sold.

But it also saw some big declines among models that have been big sellers in the past. The basic Golf sedan saw sales decline 48.6% to 1,013. When all Golf variants are taken into account, sales were down 29.1% to 4,475 for the month. Jetta sales were down 16% to 10,945 and Passat fell 12.8% to 7,129.