When Porsche and Audi models get into the hand of the motoring public, they receive plenty of care. With the brand’s popular motors costing over $50,000, they get pampered by their owners and, on the road at least, are rarely driven to their limit. But before they get into the hands of owners, they might not receive the same treatment. Car carrier trailers for trucks are open to the elements and can see damage done with ease. Often the most high-end luxury vehicles ship individually in enclosed trailers. But when oceans present themselves, ships are unavoidable. For four potential owners of Porsche 911 GT2 RS cars, the unimaginable hit their precious cargo. The ship carrying them went down.
When Did The Ship Sink?
Back in March 2019 the Grande America a freight liner operated by a company called Grimaldi lines caught fire and sank. According to a statement from Grimaldi, the fire began on the night of March 10. Heading from Hamburg to Morocco, the ship caught fire in the Bay of Biscay. This section of the sea is notoriously dangerous. On the northwest of the African coast, it experiences harsh weather that comes off the Atlantic Ocean.
Freight liners carry a lot of different things as they support the global supply chain. This means they carry everything including food, clothes, and even cars. When the fire started, it held 365 containers. In some of these were some of Germany’s greatest luxury vehicles. The Royal Navy saved Grimaldi's 26 strong crew and the sole passenger, but not everything on board was so lucky.
Hamburg is an inland city, but it sits on the banks of the river Elbe. The city is 68 miles away from the North Sea, but with this connection, Hamburg is Germany’s “Gateway to the World” and is the country’s largest port. It’s no surprise that German manufacturers send their precious cargo to this port. Both Stuttgart and Ingolstadt are about a seven-hour drive away from the port. This is more economical than using a north Italian port like Genoa, and it’s for this reason Audi and Porsche got caught in this disaster.
As the shipping containers poured out into the sea, the ship spilled plenty of hazardous materials into the sea as well. Notably, a six-mile oil spill occurred, along with the leaking of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids. In Grimaldi's statement, they announced that they were taking the necessary environmental measures.
What Cars Sank With The Grande America?
According to the BBC, when the boat sank it carried 365 containers. The Morocco boat held a range of Audis including some vehicles like the A3, A5, and large SUV Q7 but then also special vehicles like the RS4 and RS5. These vehicles should have arrived in Brazil. Fortunately, these vehicles didn't have limited production runs, but it's still a shame to see them beneath the surface of the sea. The BBC suggest that the fire began on the car deck and spread elsewhere.
The boat also transported four Porsche 911 GT2 RS cars. This special Porsche is the Porsche to end all 911s and the height of all the Porsche GT car madness. Fueling this market is a minuscule number of cars, only 500 left production in Stuttgart. The previous GT2 RS had an infamous reputation, especially in the wet. The 991 Generation GT2 is now different. The model has 691 horsepower which in new money is a nice and round 700 and can accelerate to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds. It is the most powerful 911 from the factory ever.
As a result of rarity and this performance figure, the 911 GT2 RS has a rather large premium over a standard Carrera or even GT3. The model started at $239,200 however option packages saw the price tag rise closer to $300,000. The secondhand market is a completely different story. Classic, an aggregator of used car sales, finds that the average 911 GT2 RS sells for $376,250. The highest recorded sale is $536,049.
Did Porsche Help Their Customers?
Porsche understands the importance of these special models. The 911 acts as a halo car for the entire brand, which includes the cheaper models like the Macan. The GT2 RS is even more so. The brand's hypercar the 918 Spyder saw 918 examples sold, the GT2 RS is the rarest of the new Porsche models, so has even more attention placed on it.
These special Porsche 911s go to loyal customers. The sort of person who owns a 911, daily drives a Panamera, and buys a new Cayenne as a family car each year. To mistreat the Brazilian 911 GT2 RS customers would very quickly become a PR disaster and could have catastrophic consequences in other markets. Euronews reports that in a letter to the affected customers, the company announced that the GT2 RS would re-enter production, to replace the four lost examples. The letter does not mention the rest of the 2000 cars that Euronews report have sunk along with the ship.
Frequently, flood and fire-damaged supercars end up at auction and sell for less than their repaired market value. Occasionally these vehicles re-enter the public consciousness as repaired vehicles. So one day four more examples of the 911 GT2 RS might end up getting pulled from the ocean, fixed and a total of 504 examples will be out there.