IRVINE, Calif. -

While Volkswagen’s TDI models carry a higher initial price tag and historically tend to hold their values longer than their gasoline-powered counterparts, it appears as though that price gap is closing as the seemingly perpetual flow of news involving the company’s diesel emissions scandal continues to circulate.

That certainly appears to be what's happening in the auction lanes, according to data provided by Kelley Blue Book.

Tim Fleming, analyst for KBB, explains.

“Early indications from auctions are that dealers are more hesitant to buy the VW diesel units, with sale prices falling 13 percent in the two weeks following VW’s announcement, compared to a 2-percent drop for the comparable gas-powered models,” Fleming said. “Used-car values typically decline at this time of year, but the large price drop on the VW diesels certainly stands out. The gas-powered units haven’t seen the same declines, but these units could take a bigger hit should the negative response toward VW extend beyond their diesel models. As it stands now, the price difference between the diesel and gas-powered VW model has fallen from around $2,700 to just $1,300.”

Looking at overall wholesale price changes (provided in the chart below) from Sept. 1, before the VW scandal’s announcement, to Oct. 2, about a month later, you’ll notice a marked difference between the normalized average auction sale price changes between gasoline and diesel variants of the affected VW and Audi models.

Diesel Models (MY 2009 – 2015)
  Pre-Announcement Post-Announcement Percent Change
Audi $16,075 $16,085 0.1%
A3 $16,075 $16,085 0.1%
Volkswagen $12,822 $11,146 -13.1%
Beetle $16,197 $13,852 -14.5%
Golf $13,551 $12,069 -10.9%
Jetta $11,901 $10,248 -13.9%
Passat $16,586 $15,253 -8.0%
Grand Total $12,830 $11,160 -13.0%

Gasoline Models (MY 2009 – 2015)
  Pre-Announcement Post-Announcement Percent Change
Audi $21,842 $24,148 10.6%
A3 $21,842 $24,148 10.6%
Volkswagen $10,095 $9,873 -2.2%
Beetle $11,548 $11,102 -3.9%
Golf $12,628 $11,067 -12.4%
Jetta $9,573 $9,354 -2.3%
Passat $12,140 $11,815 -2.7%
Grand Total $10,184 $10,002 -1.8%

Fleming specifically noted that the data on the diesel Audi A3, Beetle and Golf, as well as the gasoline A3, is fairly limited, so take those percent changes with a grain of salt.

The auction lanes weren’t the only area that VW has seen a recent hit in sales. To see how VW’s CPO sales faired by the end of last month, check out our story here.

Eric Ibara, KBB’s director of residual value consulting, believes that, if VW handles the situation correctly, it shouldn’t take too long for them to clean up their reputation and get their vehicles’ prices back on track.

“While early readings suggest that TDI vehicles are being affected by the news, it is possible that they could return to normal levels within a year,” Ibara said. “This will depend on how Volkswagen handles this crisis and what they announce the fix will be for the U.S. market.”