A vacant tract next to Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is holding a large number of diesel vehicles reclaimed by VW as part of its settlement with the U.S. government over its emission-fixing scandal.
Chattanooga is one of several sites across the country, including the parking lot of the old Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit, where the company is temporarily parking the vehicles until they can be fixed or recycled.
Chattanooga VW plant spokesman Scott Wilson confirmed the Enterprise South industrial park site is one of several nationally on which the diesel vehicles are being stored and maintained, but declined further comment.
Jeannine Ginivan, a Volkswagen Group of America spokeswoman, said that once a buyback transaction is complete, VW will remove the vehicle from the dealership and store it at a regional facility.
In Chattanooga, VW is using a tract next to the plant known as "the mirror site," a sizable parcel the automaker has identified where it could replicate its existing plant if it decides to invest in such a future expansion.
Ginivan said the vehicles will be held and routinely maintained until it's determined whether an approved emissions modification becomes available.
"If approved, the settlement allows Volkswagen to modify affected 2.0L TDI vehicles so they can be returned to commerce or exported," she said in an email. "Vehicles that are not modified must be responsibly recycled."
Ginivan said VW is encouraged by the customer response to the 2.0L TDI settlement program and the participation rate so far.
"As of Jan. 14, Volkswagen had extended more than 266,000 offers to affected customers and by the end of January, we expect to have processed approximately 96,000 buybacks and lease terminations," she said.
Ginivan termed the program "unprecedented" in terms of its size and scope and VW has hired about 1,300 contract employees to help accommodate demand.
In late October, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco approved a settlement between lawyers representing nearly 500,000 owners of cheating 2-liter diesels, the government and the company.
VW agreed to spend up to $10 billion to buy back the diesels, which were programmed to turn on pollution controls during government tests and turn them off while on real roads.
The National Football League's Detroit Lions left the Silverdome in 2001 for Ford Field and it closed in 2006. Officials announced in 2015 that the Silverdome would be demolished.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.