New Harrods owners see cars worth £1.5m CLAMPED (outside store they bought for £1.5bn)
By PAUL HARRIS
Last updated at 3:10 PM on 29th July 2010
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Looking on the bright side, at least the owners won't have much trouble stumping up the parking fine.
But even when you've just bought Harrods for £1.5billion, and the cars are among the fastest and most exclusive in the world, getting them clamped is still a bit of an inconvenience.
The uniquely liveried supercars belong to the Qatari royal family, which bought the flagship store three months ago.
On the left is a Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce, worth £350,000. In front of it is a bespoke specification Koenigsegg CCXR, one of only six in the world and worth a staggering £1.2million.
Back home on the open highways and expressways around Qatar, either car could still fall victim to speed cameras (providing, that is, the cameras can register top speeds in excess of 200mph).
But anyone who has ever nipped into Harrods for a few minutes could have told them that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea shows no mercy - or discrimination - towards parking regulation breaches in the cramped, crowded streets that surround it.
Hence, two large yellow triangles rather spoiled the sleek lines of the fabulously rare cars when clampers contracted by the council spotted them driverless and illegally parked. Within minutes, they made sure the cars were going nowhere fast.
That set in train the universally familiar hassle of paying a release fee (£70), coughing up a fine (between £40 and £120, with a reduction for prompt payers), and sorting out the paperwork.
Hopefully none of the wheels was damaged during the clamping operation - the Koenigsegg's are made of carbon-magnesium and cost £3,000 each. Nor was the driver obliged to hand over the key. A diamond encrusted option is available for £36,000.
The £1.2million Koenigsegg CCXR and £350,000 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce were illegally parked outside the London department store
Shoppers and tourists craned for a peek at the spectacle as it unfolded in the heart of Knightsbridge.
The council, which clamped 8,883 vehicles in the borough last year, declined to comment specifically on the case, as did Harrods.
The Koenigsegg is built to customer requirements, right down to body-contour matching seats. Potential CCXR buyers are flown to company HQ on an airbase in Sweden, where boss Christian Von Koenigsegg takes them for a spin.
Such is his confidence in the car's stability that he accelerates to 200mph and slams on the brakes - without putting his hands on the steering wheel.
The Qatar version of the car is said to produce more than 1,064bhp, does 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 249mph. Petrol consumption - of less concern in the oil rich Middle East than in SW1 - is around 14mpg.
Koenigsegg CCXR
Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce
Acceleration: 0 to 60mph
3.2 seconds
3.2 seconds
Top Speed
245 mph
213mph
Engine
Supercharged V8
Lamborghini Naturally Aspirated V12
Cost
From £407,000
From £148,000
Interesting Fact
During an episode of Top Gear The Stig left the track and hit a tyre wall for the first time in the shows history whilst trying to beat the track's record in the CCX
The orange stripe on the side of the car symbolizes the "strength of an erupting volcano"
Read more: New Harrods owners see cars worth £1.5m CLAMPED | Mail Online
