User:Smokingloud/sandbox/Hennessey Venom GT

= Hennessy Hennessey Venom GT = The Hennessy Hennessey Venom GT was a limited-run promotional sports car announced as a collaboration between the Hennessy brand of cognac and hypercar manufacturer Hennessey Performance Engineering. The vehicle featured beige calf-skin seats with gold embroidery (intended to resemble the Hennessy label) and a reddish-brown paint color simply called "VSOP". The collaboration was cancelled almost immediately due to public backlash.

Background
Hennessey Performance Engineering is an American company most famous for the Hennessey Venom GT, a high-performance modification of the already renowned Lotus Exige; Hennessy is a label of cognac produced by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. The companies are not related and were founded more than 200 years apart. The Hennessy Hennessey Venom GT was allegedly conceived when LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault met Hennessey Performance Engineering founder John Hennessey, whom he greatly admired, at Trump International Golf Links, Scotland in 2013. The two decided to collaborate on the basis of their brands' shared prestige and commitment to luxury.

Announced at the 2014 Geneva International Auto Show, the Hennessy Hennessey Venom GT was intended to be limited to just two dozen vehicles, each of which would come with a unique bottle of cognac that had been accelerated to 270 mph (the vehicle's top speed). Journalists were quick to point out the tone-deafness of the collaboration, with one columnist in Car and Driver calling the idea "farcical" and writing that "the double Henny seems to encourage not only drunk driving, but doing so at enormous velocities." Hennessey and LVMH soon after released a joint statement condemning drunk driving and announcing that the vehicle would not be made. The collaboration was instead limited to the two dozen bottles of special cognac, which were sold at auction to benefit charity.