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Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

Lamborghini reveals Aventador Nazionale in Beijing

Special editions have proven themselves a great way for high-end automakers to get a little bit more for their wares, but they appear to be gradually being taken over by personalization programs that allow customers to order their exotic new wheels just as they want them. After all, what's the point in ordering a special color scheme someone else has chosen when you can choose it yourself, with special wheels and interior upholstery to match?
Lamborghini has just such a program. It's called Ad Personam, and like the customization catalogs offered by other automakers, it allows its clients to specify any range of stylistic parameters to suit their own taste. To showcase the program, Lamborghini brought a customized Aventador to the Beijing Motor Show. Called the Nazionale edition, it's got a white paintjob with tricolore racing stripes up the hood, anthracite wheels, and a blue leather interior.
It's similar to the Gallardo Tricolore that rolled out of Sant'Agata three years ago - the kind of treatment we'd otherwise call a special edition, but despite carrying a different name, it just goes to show the possibilities Lamborghini offers it customers. For the right price, of course.

Chinese patent filing may mean Lamborghini Urus closer to production

The Urus SUV still hasn't received the official green light for production, but that hasn't stopped Lamborghini from protecting its performance crossover in the land of stolen vehicle designs. These patent drawings submitted in China show what appear to be the Urus in the same concept form that we first saw last year at the Beijing Motor Show.
Last we heard, the Volkswagen Group had put development of the Urus on hold even though, more recently, the Bentley EXP 9 F (aka, the Falcon) has reportedly been given the nod. Although the existence of these patent images don't necessarily mean the Urus is going into production, they are at least another excuse to debate the SUV's stealth-bomber-style lines.