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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 Invencible and Autentica are brand's final NA V12 cars

A few months ago, we wrote that the final production units of the Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae represented the end of the reign of the naturally aspirated V12 in Sant'Agata Bolognese, and the last Aventador Ultimae meant the end of an NA V12 Aventador. Seems we were mistaken. Lamborghini now tells us these two one-offs are the proper and (maybe) final end of the NA V12. Created for a customer who worked with Lamborghini Centro Stile from inception, the duo are the Invencible (the Spanish spelling of "Invincible") coupe and Autentica roadster. They're not only farewells, they are greatest-hits compilations said to combine design features from the Reventon from 2008, the Sesto Elemento from 2010, the Veneno from 2013, and the 830-horsepower Essenza SCV12 track-only coupe from 2020. Lamborghini didn't mention the Sian FKP 37, but the headlights are a match, and the side vents are a mix between the Sian and the Sesto Elemento.   Both are based on the Aventador's carbon fiber tub, and both feature a 6.5-liter V12 making 769 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque. The Invencible wears carbon fiber panels in Rosso Efesto, which is Hephaestus Red, Hephaestus being the Greek god of things like fire and volcanoes. The paint's accented with carbon-look elements that glint with red flakes, brake calipers in Rosso Mars, and pure carbon. The hexagonal Tricolore on the door fits in with numerous other six-sided elements like the DRLs, three-part taillights, and exhaust. A tidy, angular swan-neck wing hovers over the rear fascia, its stanchions anchored beside the backlight.    Inside is a mix of Rosso Alala leather, Nero Cosmus Alcantara, and contrast stitching in Rosso Alala and Nero Ade. Rosso Efesto is used on the steering wheel and for the shift paddles. Designers removed the Aventador's infotainment screen, moving all readouts to the digital gauge display and leaving twin hexagonal vents to dominate the open space over a pocket trimmed in red. The Autentica roadster is painted in Grigio Titans with details in Giallo Auge (Yellow Peak) and Matte Black. Instead of the Invencible's rear wing, a pair of fins highlighted by a yellow line channel air over the rear spoiler. Inside, occupants sit on Nero Ade leather and Giallo Taurus stitching, and can ogle two-tone Nero Cosmus and Grigio Octans Alcantara. This is really it for the V12. We think.

Lamborghini applies to trademark 'Revuelto' name in Europe

Lamborghini's path to an electrified lineup begins with plug-in hybrid versions of its Huracan, Aventador and Urus by the end of 2024. It's first battery-electric vehicle is due before the end of the decade, reporting last year putting the launch in 2028. We expect there will be a few concepts and show cars presaging the first pure EV from Sant'Agata Bolognese, and a couple of trademark filings could tell us what a forerunner or the car itself will be called. CarBuzz discovered Lamborghini filings in Europe and Italy to reserve the name "Revuelto." The Spanish word has quite a few meanings, like mixed, untidy and nauseous. Then there are two meanings that could apply to a revolutionary electric product from a brand known for screaming V12s: Restless and turbulent. If we want to push the wordplay, there's a third meaning we could apply: Scrambled, as in eggs, although that could also apply to expectations. The supercar maker wants to cover every base with the name, it seems. The applications with the European Union Intellectual Property Office specify four classes, an umbrella sheltering everything from electric cars and EV components specifically to car parts and accessories in general, as well as scooters, car-related games and toys, and clothes. We have no idea what kind of battery-powered go-fast is coming from that corner of Italy, except that it will be a 2+2 GT described as having "a bit more ground clearance." Superficially, that sounds like an elevated version of the Asterion LPI 910-4 hybrid concept car (pictured), something we'd be totally OK with, but the target is "a four-seater two-door like the GT cars of the Fifties and Sixties." Designers and engineers are working on it now, still in the exploratory phases of how to deliver everything buyers want from a raging bull the minus the trademark V10 and V12 noises. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann noted two vital aspects in comments to TopGear last year, the first being, "Yes, we have opportunities to be different in terms of body styles, but the cars will always be immediately recognizable as Lamborghinis." After looks comes handling, Winkelmann adding that performance EVs have great straight-line acceleration, but not enough lateral capability to satisfy Lamborghini. "It’s about how you put all the handling capabilities inside the car, which today is missing in electric cars.