Wednesday night, a chemical explosion in the city of Tianjin, China went off with the destructive force of roughly 21 tons of TNT, claiming the lives of somewhere around 50 local citizens, and injuring thousands more.
But in addition to the incalculable destruction wrought upon the people of Tianjin, China, naturally, there’s also been a tremendous amount of property damage there. Out of all the automakers affected, Jalopnik reports that Volkswagen in-particular has suffered a major setback as no fewer than 2,748 new Volkswagen vehicles were obliterated in the explosion.
Citing a translated Chinese source, Jalopnik reports that those vehicles are:
- 1,065 Touaregs
- 114 Golfs
- 391 Beetles
- 84 Ups
- 257 Tiguans
- 39 SportsVans
- 28 Magotans (locally-built Passats), and
- 770 “Specials” (We don’t quite know what these are.)
The morning after the explosion, smoke continued to billow out of the site, and at least a dozen firemen were tragically lost trying to extinguish the flames.
Jalopnik‘s Chinese source further reported that in addition to Volkswagen, Japanese automaker Toyota was also substantially affected by the explosion. The corporation’s research and design facility in Tianjin, shared with joint-venture partner Sichuan FAW, was damaged in the blast.
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