A Ferrari dealership has landed itself in hot water after a promotional event atop Nanjing’s ancient city wall was cancelled due to an “unauthorised” burnout leaving tire marks across the wall’s surface. Footage has been released on Youku of the car performing the burnout, followed by the damage being mopped up the next day.
The car in question, a Ferrari 458 Italia, was lifted onto the Zhonghua gate by crane the night of Sunday May 6th where the unnamed driver put the limited edition model through its paces. The tourist administration in charge of the city wall has been reprimanded for the incident due to “incompetent supervision and management” as well as the fact that the event was unapproved by archaeological authorities. The event cost Ferrari an expected ¥80,000 and required the wall to be closed to tourists for half a day.
Ferrari has issued an official apology on its blog (in Chinese), stating that they have “always respected Chinese traditional culture” and that the company “values the protection of historical and cultural relics”. However, it seems that an apology and a mop may not be enough to repair the damage done; it is believed that as well as superficial damage the internal structure of the wall may now be compromised. Yang Guoqing, an expert on ancient city wall protection was quoted as saying, “the damage may be invisible at the moment, but very detrimental”.
This could be a major PR disaster for the Italian automaker considering China claimed the wall as being the oldest standing in the world today in their submission for the wall to attain UNESCO World Heritage site status.
