This might be the ultimate schadenfreude of VW’s diesel cheatery — the US government paid $20.7 million to help Americans get behind the wheel of these NOx-barfing Volkswagens during the Cash for Clunkers program.
The news comes from Yahoo Autos analysts who dug through the data of the 690,114 car sales aided by the $3 billion total Cash for Clunkers program. They concluded that $4,500 rebates were handed out to 4,599 new Volkswagen TDIs, which calculates out to $20,695,500.
This is another part of VW’s bad news, but it looks like even worse news for the already-tarnished legacy of Cash for Clunkers.
You can read the full report written up by Jalopnik Alum Justin Hyde right here.
It’s a small sliver of VW’s total cheater TDI sales (the total recall stands at 482,000 VWs), but it’s hilarious and painful to know that taxpayer money went into helping get that figure to where it is.
Photo Credit: VW (Jetta TDI pictured)
Contact the author at raphael@jalopnik.com.