It is simply mind-boggling the kind of exotic automobiles you can find abandoned in Dubai. There are several massive scrapyards in the Middle Eastern city where you can easily spot hundreds of supercars and luxury automobiles rotting under the scorching sunlight. Someone even spotted a Batman Tumbler parked at a deserted location, unloved and gathering dust. Such sights will make you cringe even if you aren’t an ardent automotive enthusiast. However, someone like me will scream in pain if I come across an ultra-rare Koenigsegg One:1 abandoned; it’s unthinkable. But that’s how crazy the city of Dubai is! An automotive-themed YouTube channel named ‘effspot’ recently uploaded a video where they were able to spot a Koenigsegg One:1 in an abandoned state, covered in dust.
The Koenigsegg One:1 debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in 2014. The highlight of the limited production hypercar was its 1-to-1 power to weight ratio, which is why it was named One:1. With an output of 1 megawatt (1,341 hp), it also became the world’s first automobile to be considered a megacar.
Only 7 examples of the Koenigsegg One:1 were made, making it one of the rarest cars on earth, they are currently valued north of $6 million in the used car market. Imagine how rich do you have to be so that you can afford to abandon a car like Koenigsegg One:1. Those who shot the video were puzzled when they stumbled across the hypercar parked behind a window in complete neglect in a dark showroom. However, they were not aware of the One:1’s notorious owner at the time of filming.
The Koenigsegg One:1 seen in the video has an exposed carbon body with a dark blue tint, shiny light blue accents, and an ivory-colored interior. This is how we could recognize it as the Koenigsegg that was once owned by Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President, Teodoro Obiang Mangue Nguema. Nicknamed Teodorin, the 53-year-old is the son of the African nation’s dictator, Teodoro Obiang. Despite being a leader of one of the poorest countries in the world, Teodorin amassed a huge fleet of luxury yachts and uber-exotic cars, including the Koenigsegg One:1. He was found guilty of corruption by a French court in 2016, leading to his arrest and seizure of his properties. Although he managed to escape the jail sentence by paying a fine, two dozen of his confiscated exotic cars were auctioned by Bonhams for $27 million. But, guess what? All those cars were secretly bought back by the disgraced African leader. It’s believed that Teodorin had shipped some of his hypercars to Dubai a while back, including the Koenigsegg One:1, where they are gathering dust while awaiting his arrival.