VW Sued Over Claim Porsche EV Battery Sparked Ship Fire That Sank With Thousands Of Cars On Board

Volkswagen Group sued over claim Porsche EV battery sparked ship fire that sank with four thousands of cars on board.

Plaintiffs accused the Volkswagen Group of failing to reveal the risks associated with transporting electrified cars.

Felicity Ace, a roll-on roll-off (roro) vessel, was transporting $155 million worth of high-end cars when it caught fire in February 2022.

It eventually sank with the onboard cars including Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys, nearly two weeks after it caught fire.

Volkswagen Group faces a pair of lawsuits in Germany over claims its battery-powered Porsche vehicle caused the February 2022 fire onboard Felicity Ace cargo ship that eventually sank with thousands of cars on board.

Per Bloomberg report, the case was brought by half a dozen plaintiffs, including Japanese-based Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) Ltd., the operator of cargo ship, and Allianz SE, one of the insurers of the cargo aboard the ill-fated vessel.

According to documents related to the initial 2023 lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused Volkswagen Group of failing to reveal the risks associated with transporting electrified cars.

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A statement released by MOL asserts that :

“Volkswagen’s failure to address known safety issues with its vehicles ultimately led to the catastrophic loss of the Felicity Ace and its cargo.”

“We have a responsibility to our policyholders to pursue all available avenues for compensation in cases where negligence has resulted in significant losses,” Allianz echoed similar sentiments in its own statement.

It will be recalled Felicity Ace, a cargo ship containing nearly 4,000 Volkswagen Group cars, eventually sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago with thousands of cars on board, nearly two weeks after it caught fire.

Felicity Ace, a roll-on roll-off (roro) vessel, was transporting $155 million worth of high-end cars, including 1,110 Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys, from German port to Rhode Island in the United States when it caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

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