Related: VW is turning part of its Zwickau EV plant into a site that takes back used VW Group cars and refurbishes them or strips them for parts to resell [0]. Target is 15,000 cars a year by 2030.
[0] https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/de/pressemitteilungen/st...
More companies need to be doing this.
Though they won't, because I imagine recycling/refurbishing is not nearly as profitable as selling new models that lose 25% of their value the moment they're driven off the lot.
And no exec wants to explain to shareholders why their revenue from new model year sales are down 20% because they've cannibalized it with a new but lower-margin revenue stream.
Cars have long had a full industry that scraps them. There are enough valuable parts to make money doing it.
There is a giantic industry that does exactly that. Copart, IAR etc
Hence why capitalism needs pollution regulations or we live in Wall-e world.