Tag Archives: Volkswagen

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All 3,965 cars on the Felicity Ace cargo ship were destroyed

As we announced a few days ago, all 3,965 cars on the Felicity Ace cargo ship were destroyed. The ship carried 1,100 Porsches, 189 Bentleys, while the rest consisted of Volkswagen, Audi and Lamborghini, including electric models. The Portuguese Coast Guard managed to save the crew, while the ship was left on fire.

It is not known what caused the fire, but Lithium-ion batteries in electric cars have contributed to its rapid spread to fuel tanks. According to Captain João Mendes Cabeças: “The fire has decreased because there is little fuel left on the ship.” This made it clear that all the cars had burned down. He also said that special equipment was needed to put out such a fire, and even then, putting out the fire would be more difficult.

When it comes to the value of the damage, economist Patrick Anderson assumes that 75% of cars were destroyed. In his calculations, he calculates an individual value of $ 95,000 per car. This brings the total value of the destroyed cars to $ 376,675,000. Initially, he estimated that the damage could be around $ 255 million, not knowing that all the cars were destroyed.

The estimated damage applies only to cars and not to damage caused to the ship or the environment.

Source: Bloomberg

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1,100 Porsche cars destroyed in fire

The Portuguese Coast Guard announced that it had received an SOS call from cargo ship Felicity Ace, which was transporting 1,100 Porsche cars. The Portuguese navy managed to rescue and evacuate to safety 22 crew members from the ship that was caught in the fire.

Felicity Ace set off from Emden, Germany, and was scheduled to arrive in Rhode Island on February 23rd. The SOS signal was sent early in the morning from an area near Faial Island.

Felicity Ace has been transporting cars from the Volkswagen Group for a long time. This time there were 4,000 cars on board, of which 1,100 were Porsches.

“A large number of our cars are among the cargo. We are in contact with the shipowner and the details of the cars on board are known. Dealers will inform customers affected by this incident,” said Porsche spokesman Luke Vandezande.

Volkswagen stated: “We are aware of an incident today involving a cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are working with local authorities and the shipping company to investigate the cause of the incident. “

It is not known what caused the fire, but it can be assumed that it spreads very quickly, because the crew could not control it.

Car owners have been informed to contact dealerships for more information.

Source: Autoblog

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Volkswagen Passat B9 spy photos

Volkswagen has announced the ninth generation Passat B9 for 2023, and now spy photos of this car have appeared. It all started back in 1973 when Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the first Volkswagen Passat model. Since then, eight generations have been produced and marketed as Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat.

In spy photos, it can be noticed that the new generation Passat B9, in its appearance, is similar to the Alltrack model. It will be built on the MQB platform and will only be offered as a caravan.

When it comes to powertrain, the ninth generation will be offered in petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid versions. The plug-in hybrid will be powered by a combination of a 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbo gasoline engine with 150 hp (110 kW) and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) and a 2.0-liter turbo gasoline engine with 187 hp (140 kW) and 236 lb-ft (320 Nm) of torque. There will also be diesel engines with a range of 122 to 250 hp (90 – 184 kW).

Earlier, Volkswagen announced that it would no longer produce its popular Passat sedan, which it stopped offering on its website.

Source: CarPix