Two years ago, we witnessed a fire on the transport ship Felicity Ace, which was carrying 3,965 vehicles. The fire was caused by a lithium-ion battery in one of the Porsche cars. The ship sank and all the vehicles went to the bottom of the sea, including 1,100 Porsches, 189 Bentleys, while the rest were Volkswagen, Audi and Lamborghini, including electric models. Among the cars were 15 Lamborghini Aventador cars, which Lamborghini stopped producing. Now, two lawsuits have been filed against Volkswagen.
The company Allianz and the operator of the cargo ship Mitsui OSK Lines sued Volkswagen, and the lawsuit was filed more than a year ago, but the development of the situation was stopped due to discussions about another lawsuit in the court in Brunswick, Germany. According to documents related to the original 2023 lawsuit, the two parties accuse Volkswagen Group of withholding information about the risks associated with transporting electrified cars. In addition, the lawsuit filed in the Stuttgart court alleges that VW did not provide the necessary precautions for the safe transport of the car.
In the meantime, an incomplete list of cars that were on the transport ship was published: Audi A5 Convertible (84), Audi A5 Coupe (43), Audi A5 Sportback (147), Audi E-Tron (121), Audi Q3 ( 297), Audi Q3 Sportback (144), Bentley Bentayga (77), Bentley Continental GT (38), Bentley Continental GTC (50), Bentley Flying Spur (25), Lamborghini Aventador (15), Lamborghini Huracan (20), Lamborghini Urus (50), Porsche (23 made in Zuffenhausen, 19 in Leipzig and 126 in Bratislava), Volkswagen Caddy (47), Volkswagen Golf (199), Volkswagen ID.4 (159), Volkswagen T6 (116), Ford Mustang GT (year 2015), Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0, BMW 750i (year 2007), Honda Prelude SiR (year 1996), as well as Land Rover Santana (year 1977) built in Spain under license from Land Rover and using Defender parts . When it comes to the value of the ship’s cargo, the estimated value of the destroyed cars is around $155 million.
How both lawsuits will end and whether both sides will be able to come to an agreement remains to be seen.
Source: Bloomberg