Dearborn, Michigan - Ford is suing American pro wrestler John Cena for selling his Ford GT sports-car too early and making a profit.
The WWE wrestling superstar and avid car collector bought the GT in September for $463 376 (R6.34-million) but resold it shortly afterwards despite signing a purchase agreement that he’d hang onto it for at least two years.
Ford hand-picked its buyers for the mid-engined two-seater, choosing celebrities such as Cena for the brand building potential they brought. Cena, who also had a 2006 Ford GT, was chosen out of about 7000 applicants to buy the car, of which only 1000 units will be built.
However, by selling the 482kW supercar less than a month after taking delivery, the wrestler lost Ford almost “two years of ambassadorship and brand value”, claims the automaker.
Ford says the wrestler also made a large profit from the sale, although the price wasn’t specified. The car manufacturer wants John Cena to turn in all the profits he made from selling the car and additional money for damages.
Automakers tend to get grumpy with speculators who resell their rare supercars for more than the original pricetag. Sometimes car companies try to prevent this by making buyers sign contracts such as the one Cena broke, or alternatively, if the company finds out speculators made a profit on the car, they won’t allow those buyers to buy rare cars from that brand in future.
Cena, one of WWE’s richest superstars, responded that the reason he sold the rare Ford was because he needed to “pay some bills”.