Why are there so many new car “graveyards” in the world

The California desert in the US has literally turned into a graveyard for thousands of new Volkswagen cars, whose condition deteriorates by the day because of the relentless sun. And the most curious thing is that this is not the only deposit of zero-kilometer cars that have not been sold and are, therefore, being slowly destroyed over the years and the action of the weather.

At the awesome.club, we decided to find out why this happens and if there is a future for these vehicles.

Tens of thousands of new Volkswagen vehicles appeared in the Mojave Desert, in the USA, after the scandal over the emissions of polluting gases from diesel vehicles in 2015. polluting than the one the German company declared. In total, 11 million cars were in these conditions and, therefore, were much more polluting than reported by Volks.

To salvage its reputation, the company bought back 350,000 newly manufactured cars from the hapless owners and sent them off for “long-term leave”. The cars were retired and retired, still new, in three US locations: a giant abandoned football stadium in Detroit, a former paper mill building in Minnesota and the California desert, in addition to 34 other secret warehouses.

Thousands of “defective” Golf and Jetta cars have been there for years and Volkswagen plans to resell them after replacing their parts and improving the condition of the vehicles, making them less harmful to the Environment. But will it be successful in this action, considering that new models are launched all the time that are less polluting and more modern in all aspects than today’s aging cars? Just remember that the case occurred in 2015 and therefore each vehicle is at least four years old.

Even the luxury vehicles from Audi (a brand that belongs to the Volkswagen group) that were part of the ranks of cars in this “graveyard” will probably not get a second “life”. The other alternative, which is also considered by the company, does not sound better: the vehicles will simply be crushed in a hydraulic press.

The Volkswagen “graveyard” is not the only one that currently exists: Nissan and Citroën also have car depots. But these companies have a completely different reason for this: they have not been able to sell all the vehicles on time.

General Motors went even further: it began to acquire land for these warehouses. The new generations of cars with updated technologies are replacing the old models on the market, whose only destination will be to rot in the sun in such deposits.

These car “cemeteries” are secret: the companies themselves and numerous information resources refute their existence. Despite this, they can be found on Google Maps after a careful search.

It is not known why companies do not sell these cars at a good discount or donate them to charitable foundations and people in need. After all, this option is much better than dismantling the vehicles to recover the parts.

Do you think there are any other workarounds to this problem?