EL PASO COUNTY – At this point, most everyone in the area has seen the massive collection of Volkswagen vehicles parked at the Pikes Peak International Raceway.
The vehicles stored there, all recalled due to the “EPA’s historic civil settlement with Volkswagen,” are only part of the picture.
PPIR is only one site located around the US where the recalled vehicles are being stored.
According to an EPA spokesperson, “The company is offering to buy back or perform an EPA-approved emissions modification on approximately 570,000 vehicles.”
After reaching out to Volkswagen, the company’s communication department informed News 5 that, “Volkswagen has bought back or performed modifications on more than 465,000 affected vehicles.”
According to uscourts.govand the most recent court documents, of those 465,000 vehicles, the majority of owners or lessees chose a buyback or early lease termination agreement.
However, now that the vehicles have been recalled, what happens next? Apparently recycling or modification and resale.
According to the EPA:
“Volkswagen may not resell or export any of the bought-back vehicles unless and until the company first reduces the amount of air pollution the vehicle emits by performing an EPA-approved emissions modification.”
And it seems that resale, according to the Executive Vice President Communications Volkswagen Group of America, is the plan for at least a portion of recalled vehicles.
“…Vehicles that have been bought back are stored at facilities on an interim basis and routinely maintained in a manner to ensure their long term operability and quality, so that they may lawfully be returned to commerce once they have received an approved emissions modification. Volkswagen is consciously balancing supply and demand through its network of Volkswagen dealerships as it determines whether to release these vehicles into the market.”
Those that aren’t being updated or modified for resale are being, “Responsibly recycled.”
So how long will all of this take? Specifically, how long will Pikes Peak region’s very own Volkswagen graveyard continue to exist at PPIR?
We asked that question to Volkswagen also.
“Based on [the afore mentioned] complexity we are not in the position to comment on the planned duration of usage of single locations.”
While there are certainly fewer vehicles stored at the PPIR location now than there were months ago, there is still no clear answer as to how long the remaining “caravan of wagens” will stick around.
