Delivery of as many as 250,000 vehicles could be delayed because the cars must first be tested in accordance with the new emission rules.

Volkswagen has been forced to rent multistory parking lots to store its new cars, as they are not allowed to be sold in accordance with the new emission rules.

As VW struggles to test cars in Europe before the introduction of WLTP, the cars will be stored throughout August. The delay in approval could affect up to 250,000 Volkswagens and they will need to stored while they are being tested.

Volkswagen already admits that there are very few places on approved exhaust gas testing benches and that it will stop production from models that have not been approved under the new system.

Volkswagen announced in June that its Wolfsburg main factory would be closed for between one and two days per week during August, September. It will also shut down its Zwickau plant on certain days, and parts manufacturing will be affected.

The company spokesperson admitted that some spaces in the car park had been rented, but said that the company was still looking for more locations for production facilities. This includes possibly parking unapproved vehicles at Brandenburg’s airport site. It was originally scheduled to open in 2011, but was delayed to 2021 due to construction problems.

Last week, it was announced that the Volkswagen Golf GTI’s current generation has been removed from sale due to WLTP testing restrictions. While the hotter GTI Performance version is still available, a few other VW Group cars have had their official power ratings taken off due to WLTP compatibility tweaks.