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Lamborghini took bold action after the last of its iconic Aventadors sank aboard a cargo ship.
In February 2022, the Felicity Ace cargo ship caught fire in the Atlantic before sinking near the Azores, not far from Portugal, taking almost 4,000 vehicles down with it.
The ship was carrying cars from several Volkswagen Group brands, including Audis, Porsches, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis.
But among the vehicles lost were 15 particularly important supercars: Lamborghini Aventador Ultimaes.
The Ultimae had been created to mark the end of the Aventador series, which had been in production since 2011.
That meant the cars sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic were among the final examples of a model Lamborghini had already stopped producing.
With customers in the US still waiting to receive them, the Italian manufacturer was left with an unusual problem.
The Aventador Ultimae was designed as a final send-off for Lamborghini's long-running supercar.
The vehicles, which were powered by a 6.5-liter V12 engine, have a top speed of 221mph and can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 2.8 seconds.
It also features Strada, Sport, Corsa, and Ego drive modes and carries a starting price of $453,000.
Because production had already ended, replacing the 15 examples lost aboard the Felicity Ace wasn't as simple as building another batch of cars.
Lamborghini would have to restart production.
After the ship sank, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that the manufacturer would rebuild each of the Aventadors lost onboard.
The company also set about replacing Lamborghini Huracán and Urus models that had gone down with the ship.
Making that happen required Lamborghini to reorganize its production line, replenish materials, and find space in an already busy manufacturing schedule.
One customer later opened up about what that decision meant for him.
YouTuber Exotic Car Hacks reportedly had three cars aboard the Felicity Ace, including an Aventador Ultimae and two GT3 cars.
"Lucky for me, Lamborghini was very kind and decided to remake me a car even though they had already shut down the plant,” he said. "This incident forced them to basically reopen the plant."
Lamborghini eventually fulfilled its promise, ensuring customers received replacements for the cars they had lost.
Then, in September 2022, the final Aventador rolled off the production line, bringing the supercar's production run to an end for real.
The Felicity Ace wasn't the last cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles to be lost at sea.
Another vessel carrying around 3,000 vehicles later sank off the coast of Alaska while traveling from China to Mexico.
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