Out of the nearly 4,000 automobiles onboard the Felicity Ace freighter when it experienced a fire and ultimately sunk, over a dozen were Lamborghini Aventadors. This created a dilemma for the Italian car manufacturer as it had already concluded Aventador production to pave the way for the supercar’s successor. Consequently, this left customers who had ordered the final-run models in a bind, but they can now relax knowing that Lamborghini will replace the 15 Aventador Ultimaes resting approximately 10,000 feet underwater off the coast of Portugal.
This decision was disclosed by Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann during an interaction with European journalists on Thursday. In total, 85 Lamborghinis were lost in the incident, with the majority being Urus SUVs, which are still in production. Although Winkelmann referenced those, his focus was primarily on the Aventador Ultimaes, known for their handcrafted assembly and price tag exceeding $500,000.
“This edition marked the conclusion of Aventador production, and there were 15 units aboard the vessel,” the CEO elaborated, as reported by Automotive News. “After collaboration and problem-solving, we are fortunate to replace these vehicles, ensuring our U.S. customers affected by the sunken ship suffer no losses. This is indeed positive news.
“And we have managed to replace all others effectively. The Aventador situation was complex, but we successfully resolved it,” Winkelmann concluded.
Portuguese Navy
Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark has confirmed that his company has outlined a strategy to replace the 189 vehicles lost in the mishap within six months. In the meantime, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann stated that the German automaker will increase production to compensate for the loss of about 1,800 vehicles. The course of action Porsche intends to take remains uncertain, given the loss of 1,100 of its high-end vehicles in the incident.
The Felicity Ace was engulfed in flames due to an unknown trigger on Feb. 16, burning for over a week before salvage teams could access it. While being towed for safety, the vessel started sinking approximately 200 nautical miles off the Azores coast of Portugal on March 1. Updates were provided between these two dates, with the news of its submerging dashing any hopes of retrieving vehicles on board. Currently, environmental concerns prevail as people ponder the fate of the oil, fuel, and lithium-ion batteries lying nearly two miles underwater.
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