McLaren Artura And Luxury SUVs Smashed In Thwarted NYC Parking Garage Heist

I feel like this story should be from an old Norm MacDonald "Weekend Update" bit. A group of car thieves tried to steal several high-priced vehicles in New York City on Sunday, but they were stopped by something they never saw coming... the front door. About four or five failed thieves broke into the cars — a McLaren Artura, a Mercedes-AMG G63, a Volvo XC60, and a Range Rover Sport — in a parking garage on West 43rd Street in Manhattan before 6 a.m., according to the NBC 4 New York. The garage attendants reportedly keep the keys in some of the cars, which might have been how they were so easily stolen. 

However, as the thieves were attempting to leave, one of the garage attendants stopped them simply by closing the front gate. The McLaren was able to sneak out before the gate closed and tried speeding away, but apparently wasn't talented enough to control the Artura's 671 hybrid horses, as they crashed it into a pole on the way out. As the gate closed, it came crashing down on the Range Rover, halting the heist.

The owner of the McLaren was walking to get breakfast when they saw their car smashed into a pole. "I couldn't believe it was my car," they told NBC 4. "I was walking out getting breakfast and then, when I came back, I saw that this looked like, like, like my car." According to NY1, a Midtown food truck owner Ahmed Kharboush saw the crash and threw some shade at its getaway driver. "He try to take the turn over here, and he just smash into the pole, he doesn't know how to drive it so why he steal it?"

Its front end was badly damaged and the airbags deployed, so the Artura is likely totaled. That's what car insurance is for, though. Since the Range Rover got guillotined by the garage door, it probably needs quite a bit of repair, too. The G63's hood was damaged as well, and not only was the Volvo's windshield smashed, there's a lot of damage to the passenger side. The XC60 and G63 made it out of before the door closed, but the thieves left them outside of the garage. I guess once they saw the McLaren crash and the Range Rover get smashed, they figured it was best to ditch the cars and bail. They fled in a gray BMW, but no further details have been released by the police.