Interesting find from your area! Thanks for sharing it.
I owned one of the affected Jetta TDI vehicles (sold it some time after the scandal to a friend for reasons unrelated).
From my point of view the situation is very unfortunate. As you pointed out:
"...these cars represent a huge investment of materials, energy, and other resources, so destroying them ensures that all of those resources go to waste."
I do hope they end up improving the transportation options for people in Asia, South American, Africa or wherever they're shipped. It seems too bad though given the extremely small scale of the emissions issue when examined closely. As I understand it the EPA essentially demands 100% emissions compliance and VW "cheated" by using software to only give 100% at test time and 99.9999% the rest of the time - all while benefiting the consumer with better MPG and performance on the road.
VW should have been honest about the cars operational emissions but the EPA requirements are so severe on diesels in the US that I think the EPA is the one actually causing "harm" to consumers by eliminating low-cost, high quality efficient transportation options. The air in Germany and Scandinavia is quite clean yet they have a larger percentage of diesels vehicle on the road that wouldn't be allowed in the US due to EPA regulations.
In Denmark I spent a few weeks with a BMW 320d which was more powerful, comfortable and efficient than many of the Dieselgate Volkswagens. It returned 50 MPG with ease. Unfortunately cars like the 320d aren't common in the US because of the EPA rules.
I'd be curious to hear when you see the lot start emptying out.
The current estimate is that the affected cars produce 40 times more NOx when they are running on the road compared to the test values in "cheat mode." That sounds pretty bad, but it might get some even worse cars off the road in poor countries.
Here in my small town there is a small but very active market for used cars, mostly from the 80s and 90s. These old jeeps and suzuki trucks and buses older than I am are repaired over and over again, but when some of them drive past you it can feel like the dawn of the industrial revolution all over again.
Right. One of the things I was trying to communicate was that 40x a minuscule number is still a minuscule number so perhaps the EPA is overzealous in their requirements (especially compared to Europe).
I think you're right: It seem like this could/will replace some cars in other countries that are putting out higher levels of emissions right now which would be positive.