4,000 cars from the VW group are now lying 3,500 meters below the surface of the Atlantic. Including over 1000 Porsches, but also Bentleys and Lamborghinis. Before that, the batteries in the e-cars were on fire.
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4000 Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentleys, Audi and VW sink into the sea
© felicity-ace-information-centre.com
On February 16, 2022, a fire broke out on board the 200-meter-long cargo ship Felicity Ace. The ship, flying the Panamanian flag, transported, among other things, 4,000 vehicles from the VW group; both those with combustion engines and electric cars. Including many expensive vehicles from the VW luxury brands Porsche (around 1100 vehicles), 186 Bentleys (according to Thedrive even 189 Bentleys) and 21 Lamborghinis, as Manager Magazin reports. High-priced Audi vehicles were also on board. Numerous ID models from the VW brand were on board.
Tip:
Here at vesselfinder you can see the last recorded position southwest of the Azores.
The Felicity Ace, built in 2005, took the vehicles on board in Emden – Emden is traditionally an important loading port for the VW Group. From there, the Felicity Ace should bring her expensive luxury cargo to the solvent customers in the USA. But they now have to wait longer for their new Lamborghini or Porsche.
Towing action not possible due to weather
Because the owner of the Felicity Ace has now announced the sinking of his ship. Accordingly, the ship sank off the Azores in the Atlantic. The final rescue plan called for the burned-out ship to be towed away. But the stormy Atlantic weather puts a spanner in the works.
The 22-man crew had long since disembarked, and everyone was rescued. The fire, which had already damaged or completely destroyed most of the vehicles, then went out on its own. The damaged ship drifted in the Atlantic for a while until a tugboat finally hooked it up. However, during the towing attempt, water got into the freighter, as reported by Manager Magazin. The ship became unstable and sank. The Porsches, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and other vehicles are now at a depth of around 3500 meters. So far, no oil spills are said to have been discovered on the sea surface.
According to ZDF, the cause of the fire is still unknown. Manager Magazine reports that electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries caught fire and the ship caught fire as a result. Reuters also reports that the batteries were on fire. However, according to Reuters, it is unknown whether the batteries actually caused the fire or only caught fire afterwards. Since the ship has sunk, the cause of the fire can no longer be determined.
The Volkswagen group suffered damage of around 139 million euros as a result of the lost cars. But according to VW, this is completely covered by insurance. The insurance company is said to be Assekuradeurs Köln Assekuranz, which belongs to Ergo. The overall damage is much higher because goods from other companies were also on board. According to this, the total damage should even amount to around 395 million euros.