"Batty" Sheikh sends luxury car to London for oil change

Apparently some unspecified sheikh shipped his Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 from Qatar to London (and back)… for an oil change. A mere bagatelle of a 6,500 mile round trip. The oil change and service cost cost £3,552 at the dealer, plus an additional £20,000 in freight to fly it to Britain and then back to Qatar. We are told, “The Murcielago LP640, a two-seater coupe, features in the latest Batman film The Dark Knight. Fittingly, the name of the vehicle means 'bat' in Spanish.”

OK, so let’s call this sheikh a little “batty.” The articles below also contain the fulminations of some environmental groups that are “outraged” at the sheikh’s “un-greenness” (or is it “non-greenness”?) Hey, this blogger is OK with this. First of all, sending the car didn’t really increase carbon emissions all that much. After all the flight would have happened with or without this cargo on it, so the sheikh only increased marginal carbon emissions (i.e. by the incremental amount of extra emissions that were produced by the airplane flying with the car vs. flying without it). Also think of all the people kept in business by the sheik’s profligacy – the cargo handlers at Heathrow, the workers at the dealer, etc., etc.

In fact, this blogger believes we should feel a little sorry for the sheikh! He’s been ripped off by the British dealer; GBP 3,552 (equal to USD 7,035) seems a little steep for an oil change! Also, what was he thinking, why did he send his car to London? Lamborghini is an Italian brand with the factory at Sant' Agata Bolognese, Italy. Why did he not send it to the factory? Perhaps Qatar Airways does not fly to Italy! And in actuality Lamborghini is owned by the German firm Audi AG, with headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Perhaps this oh-so-important sheikh should deal exclusively/directly with the bosses, rather than some British flunkies!! You can tell that this blogger is having fun with this story (sorry, couldn't help it...)

Sheikh sends luxury 'Batman' car to London for oil change
Sheikh flies Lamborghini 6,500 miles to Britain for oil change