Mr Bateson was outlining in a video-conference meeting with Ireland's motoring journalists a view on the state of the light commercial vehicle market in the near and further future, in the light of a collapse of registrations during the coronavirus restrictions.
He said the total sales for the year will now be in the order of 16,777 units rather than the 21,490 originally budgeted.
He also suggested that next year's sales in the sector will be around 18,500 units, still significantly lower than the c21,000-23,000 annual sales figure between 2016 and 2019.
Outlining the company's restart planning, he said VWCI dealers are offering a three month deferral of repayments on new vehicle sales, with purchase contributions of up to €3,500 and a 2.9pc HP finance offer which he said is the lowest in the sector. Restart customer offers are available on Caddy, Transporter, Crafter and Amarok, with PCP offers on all four at 4.9pc interest.
