What the largest Volkswagen cemetery in the USA looks like

Tens of thousands of cars were left in the California desert because of the "dieselgate", a large-scale scandal that in 2015 cost Volkswagen its reputation and billions.

In 2015, a huge scandal broke out around Volkswagen: it turned out that the software of some of its cars deceived the verification system while passing environmental tests on the stands. In real operation, the harmful emissions of diesel engines could exceed the norm by ten times. It has been proven that, striving for world leadership in the industry, the German automaker has been working with software for several years, specifically underestimating the emissions of harmful substances.

As compensation, the brand bought more than 350 thousand "harmful" cars from owners in the United States, spending more than $ 7 billion on it. In addition, the company was fined for violating the rules established by the EPA, its shares and sales plummeted. The scandal caused personnel purges in the company's top management and in total cost the automaker at least 25 billion euros.

In March 2018, the Reuters news agency found out that the cars bought out by the court by the concern are now in 37 storages, which are "Volkswagen cemeteries". Among such giant parking lots are an abandoned football stadium in Detroit, a former paper mill in Minnesota, as well as the largest — the territory of the former US base in the California desert.

Given that the scandal itself arose in 2015, the cars in the "cemeteries" have been standing for a long time. But they are under supervision and even undergo technical inspections. According to American publications, it has now become known about Volkswagen's intention to sell all these cars. Only it is not entirely clear whether it has been decided to invest in their repair, or whether the company hopes to sell them in the markets of other countries.

Interestingly, cars have already been stolen from these parking lots. So, for example, a little less than a hundred cars were stolen from an abandoned stadium in Detroit, which Volkswagen rented for parking, last fall. Then they surfaced in neighboring states — and not only on the black market, but also in car dealerships.