A Ship Full Of Porsches Caught Fire & 4,000 Luxury Cars Are Now Burning On The Atlantic
That's a lot of hot cars 🚗🔥🚢
The hottest cars in the world right now are about 4,000 Porsches, Audis and Volkswagens that are actively burning on the Atlantic Ocean.
A cargo ship carrying thousands of luxury cars from Germany to the United States caught on fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and 22 crew members were rescued from the blaze on Thursday.
The abandoned ship is now drifting near Portugal's Azores Islands, where it's been spewing heavy smoke into the sky ever since.
The Drive reports there are roughly 4,000 cars from Volkswagen Group onboard. That includes about 1,100 Porsches, according to the New York Times, along with some Bentleys and Audis, too.
That's a lot of fancy cars that are currently going up in smoke.
The ship, called the Felicity Ace, is a 650-foot vessel that can carry approximately 17,000 metric tons of cargo or about 4,000 cars, reported the Associated Press.
The ship was taking its cargo from Germany to Rhode Island in the U.S, but there really isn't much that can be done to save those cars.
Even though the cars are doomed, the Portuguese navy did rescue 22 crew members via helicopter and no one was reported to have been injured.
In a statement to NBC, a spokesperson for Porsche said that they are relieved that the 22 members of the crew are safe and sound.
"Our immediate thoughts are of relief that the 22 crew of the merchant ship Felicity Ace are safe and well. A number of our cars are among the cargo," said the statement.
"We are in contact with the shipping company, and the details of the cars onboard are now known. While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are – along with our colleagues at Porsche AG – supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions."
Volkswagen confirmed that it had German-made, U.S.-bound vehicles on the ship, but refused to make any further comment.
It's unclear what will happen with the ship or what started the fire.
Meanwhile, car buyers whose vehicles were on board the ship are in the dark over what will happen next.
Journalist and host Matt Farah told CNN that he was expecting a 2022 Porsche Boxter Spyder from his dealership, and he just got word that the vehicle was onboard.
"The dealer confirmed that my car, along with at least a dozen other vehicles they were expecting, is on that boat," Farah said.
"They had no further information for me beyond confirming my car was on the boat and said that as soon as Porsche Cars North America has a plan of any kind with how to proceed, that they would share the plans with me."
So if you're planning to buy a pricey car in the near future, be warned: they just got a lot harder to find!