Friday, March 22, 2019

When the "Grande America" Sank On March 12 It Took Some Very Valuable Automobiles to the Bottom

From Ships and Ports, March 22:

Grande America sank with 37 Porsche cars worth $10.8m, other luxury brands
Italian container/roro ship, the Grande America, which sank off the French coast on Tuesday 12 March 2019, went down with no fewer than 2,210 vehicles including 37 Porsche cars worth $10.8 million and other luxury brands.

The 37 Porsche cars onboard, including four models of the 911 GT2 RS, 718 Caymans, Boxters, and Cayennes, were worth $292,200 each, amounting to $10,811,400 in all.
Carscoops reported that the Stuttgart-based company has written a letter to its Brazilian customers informing them that they would reproduce the model especially for them.

“We are sorry to inform you that, due to a fire, a Grimaldi group ship, that was transporting your vehicle, sank on March 12, 2019,’ the company wrote to its customers. And for that reason, your GT2 RS can not be delivered.

“As you may know, Porsche ended the 911 GT2 RS production on February 2019 and under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be possible to give you another car,” Porsche said.

Other luxury car brands in the sunken ship include Audi, which had an unspecified number of its models A3, A5, RS4, RS5 and Q7 onboard. The prices of the Audi cars range from $44,200 to $74,200....MUCH MORE
gCaptain has more on what the folks in Stuttgart are planning:

Porsche to Restart Production of Limited-Edition 911s Lost in Grande America Sinking
Sports car maker Porsche will have to restart production on a limited-edition 911s which sank along with more than 2,200 other vehicles on board the Grande America in the Bay of Biscay last week.

A Porsche Brazil spokesperson has now confirmed that it had 37 new cars on board the ship, including four rare 911 GT2 RS being shipped from Hamburg, Germany to Santos, Brazil.

In a rare move, Porsche says it is now taking steps to restart production in order to “uphold its commitment” to its customers in Brazil, and the company has ensured that those vehicles will be reproduced in the order in which they were received....MORE