The massive fire onboard the Felicity Ace cargo ship has proved to be a huge headache for manufacturers and customers alike. Nearly 4,000 vehicles made by Volkswagen Group are onboard,from companies like Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Volkswagen. However, the biggest issues could be coming for Lamborghini.
Automotive News spoke with Andrea Baldi, the CEO of Automobili Lamborghini America, and he is quite worried. Most of the cars onboard are somewhat replaceable. Even the higher end stuff like Bentleys, Porsches and Lamborghini SUVs aren’t limited production runs at the end of their lifecycle.
They can make new ones for customers who ordered them. Sure, it’s a hassle but it can be done with some ease.
The real issue comes from the Lamborghini Aventator. It’s sold out. In fact, the car is completely out of production to make way for the car’s replacement.
Baldi said if any of those cars are damaged (which they probably were), Lamborghini would have to find a way to restart production with suppliers in order to get the orders fulfilled. From the article:
“At the moment, we don’t know, and we will have to deal with the problem it will present. The car is sold out, so there is always a possibility out of 563 units that some cancellation can allow an Aventador replacement, but I prefer to hope for the time being that at least the few Aventadors on the ship will be safe,” Baldi told Automotive News.
He believes the fire could lead to a six month delay for customers waiting for vehicles, whether they end up with the cars that were on board and not damaged or totally new cars.
However, there is no real telling how long it would take for the company to restart Aventador production should those cars be destroyed in the fire.
Volkswagen Group is no stranger to restarting production for defunct cars lost at sea. In 2019, Porsche had to restart production on the 911 GT2 RS after a few of their cars sank to the bottom of the sea.
The Felicity Ace caught fire a week ago today. Luckily, all 22 members of the crew on board were rescued without injury, but the fire is still burning. Though, it has slowed in recent days.
When all is said and done, damages could total over $350 million dollars.