It is still unknown what Volkswagen plans to do with all of its cars involved in the Dieselgate scandal which unfolded in September of 2015. It wouldn't make financial sense to crush them all since Volkswagen did have to offer to buy them all back, but until a fix is determined that helps VW earn back some of the billions of dollars in lost profits, fines, and lawsuits, cars are being parked in huge numbers across leased lots of land.

In 2014, a study was performed by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) aimed at documenting the differences between European and US emission regulations. During this study, 15 different vehicles were evaluated using rigorous testing by three different groups of scientists. One group of US scientists who were participating noticed that two out of three cars they tested performed additional testing of the emission components while driving. As a result, when the results were made public, Volkswagen Group became the target of one of the largest regulatory investigations related to auto manufacturers.

Once the buyback option was approved by the courts as a part of the settlements awarded to those who purchased affected diesel Volkswagen and Audi cars, owners flocked to dealerships to trade in cars that they were upside-down in. This netted enough profits for some to buy fleets of TDI cars to reap the settlement funds, while others continued to strip their cars down to "drivable" condition while selling excess parts.