United States
Diesel cars in the desert
By now, most people have heard of “Dieselgate.” In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the Volkswagen Group had violated the Clean Air Act. The German carmaker was charged with deliberately tampering with engine software on its diesel cars.
Worldwide, 11 million car owners discovered that their “clean diesels” were in fact highly polluting. Volkswagen’s stock prices fell drastically as customers lost faith in the company. In 2017, VW agreed to pay $4.3 billion (about €4 billion) in penalties.
Volkswagen has spent more than $7.4 billion buying back diesel vehicles from American customers. About 350,000 of these cars are being stored around the U.S. This Reuters photo shows Volkswagen and Audi cars parked in what the news service describes as a “desert graveyard” in California.