Volkswagen's US sales fell nine percent in December in the wake of a massive pollution-cheating scandal, the embattled German automaker said Tuesday.

The results were nonetheless better than the 25 percent drop registered in November after VW stopped selling diesel vehicles shown to have been equipped for years with software that intentionally subverted clean-air regulations.

VW's total US sales for 2015 fell five percent to 349,400 vehicles. December sales fell by more than 3,000 vehicles to 30,956.