Did you know that Volkswagen continued to make diesel models of its 2016 Passat, even after all the Dieselgate stuff started happening? Did you know it continued to make them, even after it withdrew its application for certification last month? Does anyone know what will happen to those cars now, because Volkswagen has halted production?
It’s sort of odd that Volkswagen would continue to produce cars it had no way of selling for some time, but Automotive News reports that this is the case no longer:
[Volkswagen Chattanooga plant spokesman Scott] Wilson said he learned of the Passat diesel pause today but didn’t know exactly when production ended, though it was probably in the last several weeks.
On Sept. 30, he told Automotive News that Passat TDI production was ongoing, and that the “the few” that were being built were being held aside and not released to dealers. That situation continued at least through mid-October, Wilson said in an email at the time.
Well, that’s odd. I wonder how many Volkswagen ended up making? I saw one in the flesh at the Passat refresh unveiling, but at the time everyone just sort of awkwardly gave it side-eye, and no one would answer too many questions about it.
So we know at least one exists.
But what about the others, if Volkswagen can’t get type approval until the next model year? What if they end up as ghosts, phantoms of production floating among history and rumor, like the 1983 Corvette?
What a fun post-Halloween spooky surprise.
Photo credit: Volkswagen
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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