About 60 vehicles were taken from Pontiac Silverdome
Volkswagen has been struggling to figure out what to do with the diesel vehicles it bought back from customers. Since January, Volkswagen has been storing many rigged diesels at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. To add salt to Volkswagen’s wounds, about 60 vehicles were stolen from the facility’s parking lot and ended up in different places across the country with fake titles.
The thefts have roped in both state police and the FBI to investigate. Many stolen vehicles have surfaced in Indiana and Kentucky.
“They were given fake Michigan titles,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said to WDRB radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. “They were brought to southern Indiana and Kentucky…We know at least 60 of them were missing.”
Goodin noted that Volkswagen kept track of the vehicles it purchased in the buyback program, but VIN numbers reappearing in their system signaled something was amiss.
Under its settlement with the U.S. government, Volkswagen agreed to buy back nearly 475,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles in the U.S. as well as a host of 3.0-liter TDI vehicles. Buyers can also choose to have their vehicles fixed to improve emissions performance. There were around 8,700 vehicles parked at the Pontiac Silverdome grounds.
Fortunately, some stolen vehicles have been recovered. Indiana State Police and another agency managed to rescue 22 cars, reports the Detroit Free Press.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required), Detroit Free Press