Philippines Customs Crushed a McLaren 620R, $1.2 Million in Cars
Yes, that is a McLaren 620R being crushed by a backhoe.
This display of destruction is the latest in an oddly long lineage of spectacular public crushing of illegally imported cars. In this case, the Bureau of Customs in the Philippines crushed a total of $1.2 million in cars over two separate incidents. One featured 14 Mitsubishi Jeeps, while the other starred seven cars headlined by the McLaren.
This particular crushing is part of a lasting campaign to crack down on illegal car importation, an issue apparently very close to the heart of Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte. He ordered a similar crushing in 2018, an event that involved a tractor driving over a startling $8 million of cars in a monster truck-like exhibition of punishment. This particular crushing is less destructive, but there is something particularly cruel about smashing the roof of each car individually for the sole purpose of destroying something.
That is the point, of course. All the smashing is meant to discourage importation by showing that the end result for anyone who tries is a car crushed in front of them for the whole world to see.
The Philippines Bureau of Customs notes that the crushing also involved the destruction of a Lotus, a Bentley, a 911, an SLK, a Genesis Coupe, and, somehow, a Solara convertible. But the track-focused 620R is by far the most rare thing crushed. Just 350 were produced, and the loss of this one means that number is down even further.
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