These Luxury Cars Were Lost At Sea
The Felicity Ace fire led to over 4,000 cars being lost, some of which were special edition, rare, and expensive vehicles.
Written by Serena Aburahma
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Getting exotic
luxury cars
from factories in their home countries to the streets of the United States is not a simple process. A lot of logistical issues have to be considered before a vehicle like the Porsche Taycan
makes it to America. Because of this, the delivery of luxury cars does not always happen smoothly, and sometimes it fails altogether.
This is what happened with the Felicity Ace, a cargo ship carrying nearly 4,000 cars across the Atlantic Ocean. According to
Marca
, the Felicity Ace sank and took thousands of luxury cars with it. These included limited edition Lamborghinis and new Bentleys.What happened to the Felicity Ace?
The Felicity Ace was a massive cargo ship that was more than 650 feet long. According to
MarineLink
, the ship caught fire on February 16 while transporting cars to the United States. Thankfully, all crew members aboard the Felicity Ace were rescued, but the ship and its cargo were not as lucky.Fighting the fire on the Felicity Ace was quite difficult, and interestingly, the electric vehicles aboard the ship may have made this even harder. Lithium-ion batteries possibly contributed to the continued spread of the fire in the ship.
Despite these issues, the fire was mostly under control by February 25, nine days after it started. However, while the Felicity Ace was being towed, the ship finally sank near the Portuguese Azores islands.
Bentleys, Lamborghinis, and other luxury cars were lost
Most of the nearly 4,000 cars that sank with the Felicity Ace came from brands under the Volkswagen group. This includes cars from Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini.
561 cars under the Volkswagen brand were lost on the ship. This included 159 Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUVs and 199 Volkswagen Golfs.
On the more luxurious end of cars lost from the Felicity Ace incident, there were an astonishing 1,117 Porsche units. Luxury car fans might shudder after hearing that 189 Bentleys were aboard the ship. Additionally, limited edition Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae units were lost.
With this many luxury cars lost, the cost of the damage is severe. There may have been up to $400 million lost in the Felicity Ace.
Manufacturers are working to replace the lost cars
While it seems like a major blow for the brands to lose 4,000 vehicles, they can be replaced. Some of the manufacturers who lost cars have already announced plans to produce replacements.
For some models, this would not be difficult, but other vehicles on the Felicity Ace were from rare or discontinued models.
One example of this is the Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae, which
Car and Driver
states is worth $500,000. 15 units of this rare Lamborghini were lost in the Felicity Ace sinking, and this is an issue because this limited-edition car is not in production. However, the luxury car brand has already announced that it will begin production once again to replace the Aventador Ultimae models lost.
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Thanks to having insurance, the manufacturers will likely be financially okay after the fire and eventual sinking of the Felicity Ace. Most drivers will not have to worry about insuring 4,000 cars on a cargo ship, but they will have to have car insurance for their driving. To get the best deals on car insurance, see how
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