The German store chain Quelle, which embarked on a series of discounted new car offers earlier this year, has advertised VW's new Golf at 10% off German list prices, to the disquiet of Volkswagen and its dealer network.

Quelle has secured a supply of the new Golf through Carplus GmbH, which claims to be an intermediary rather than an unauthorised distributor under Block Exemption regulations. The German VW-Audi dealer association has responded critically, saying that it is not made clear to consumers whether Quelle, Carplus or a dealer is the contractual supplier of orders placed thorugh Quelle, and expressing fears that consumers will ask dealers for comparable discounts. VW is understood to be investigating the supply arrangement.