The South African government has very strict rules about smuggling. A rich, foolish car owner found out the hard way. A rare Ferrari LaFerrari is scheduled to be executed as punishment for the owner's law-breaking ways.
The Ferrari LaFerrari in question is just one of 500 ever made. But its rarity is apparently not enough for it to be salvaged from its impending doom. According to MSN, the car owner purchased the sports car years ago and tried to bring it into South Africa in 2014. Unfortunately, he was unable to "follow correct import procedures" as described by a representative of the South African Revenue Service (SARS). To be more specific, the car owner was not able to pay for the import taxes as well as necessary customs duties.
The LaFerrari spent three years under the custody of SARS. It was kept in a customs warehouse before the owner was finally able to produce the necessary documents last February. However, the paperwork only allowed him to transfer the car out of the country and into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As South African authorities would learn later, that was not the last they'll hear of the striking red hybrid Ferrari. Authorities caught some people trying to smuggle the car back into the country at the same border crossing where the car left the country. The car as seized and is now scheduled to be crushed.
The Ferrari LaFerrari is one of the better hybrid sports cars to come out of Ferrarri's production line. It is powered by a V-12 which produces 789 horsepower along with an electric motor that gives an additional boost of 161hp. The fast and efficient LaFerrari can speed up like a Bugatti Chiron but uses less fuel to do so. Car and Driver also noted that the out-of-production LaFerrari was designed to look like a fighter jet and came out looking prettier than the iconic Enzo.
It is unfortunate to see such an innocent Ferrari LaFerrari bear the grunt of justice but it is within the rights of the government to make criminals pay for their misdeeds however stupid the crime may be. While this particular Ferrari LaFerrari is bound to be crushed, a certain historical 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO broke records when it sold for $38.1 million at an auction last year making it the most expensive car ever.
