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Latest Transformers 4 trailer has Lamborghini getting in on the action

If any modern movie franchise defines spectacle, it has to be Transformers. All instantiations are about inviting audiences to sit down, fill up popcorn and turn off their brains because the next 90 minutes are nothing but shiny robots, explosions and loud noises. Oh, and cars... lots of cars. The latest trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth film in the series, has just hit the web, and it checks all the boxes of what makes the films stand out.
The last trailer showed off a plethora of the movie's cars. This new one aims for action and focuses mostly on robots beating each other up in various international locales. Although, there is a great look at the movie's Lamborghini Aventador (pictured above) transforming and even briefly fighting Optimus Prime.
From the previous trailer and other releases, we know that the latest movie features a ton of vehicles, including a new look for Bumblebee, the Chevrolet Camaro, plus a Bugatti Veyron, C7 Corvette, Freightliner truck, Pagani Huayra and many more. Transformers: Age of Extinction is scheduled to hit theaters on June 27, 2014. Scroll down to watch this extravaganza of special effects.

Lamborghini explains how (and why) it designed the Huracan Sterrato off-roader

Lamborghini broke new ground (literally and metaphorically) by launching an off-road-ready variant of the Huracan called Sterrato. It's not the brand's first off-roader; that branch of the family tree includes the LM002 built in the 1980s and the Urus. But it's the only Lamborghini that has made the improbable leap from the track to the trail. I sat down with Rouven Mohr, the head of the firm's research and development department, to find out how and why the Sterrato came to life. Interestingly, it started with a wild idea floated by executives during a dinner. [The following has been edited for clarity.] RG: What's the story behind this car? RM: I have a personal connection to this project. The basic idea was born at a dinner I attended the first time I worked for Lamborghini, in 2017. I was eating with Maurizio Reggiani, my former boss, and Mitja Borkert, our chief designer, right after a test of the Urus. We were so happy talking about how much fun the Urus is to drive on gravel, and we said, "This would be even cooler with a super-sports car." At that time, I was responsible for whole vehicle development. When I got back to the office, I decided to take an old Huracan durability test car that was scheduled to be scrapped and build a demo car. Everybody was so in love and agreed it was very cool, but based on other priorities the company decided to stop [the project]. When [CEO] Stephan Winkelmann returned to Lamborghini, he saw the car and asked why we didn't build it. So, we restarted the project. I'm back at Lamborghini now, and it's a big pleasure for me to bring this project to the market. RG: Beyond the cool factor, what was your goal during the project? RM: This car's mission is quite easy to explain. At Lamborghini, we always have two pillars. One is performance, which means pure numbers like top speed and lap times. It's not only Lamborghini [that can deliver this], however, because a lot of other brands also have the numbers. We are always looking for something unexpected that improves the driving thrill, the overall experience, and we recognized after testing the demo car that there is really nothing comparable from the perspective of pure emotional driving behavior on the market. The mission of this car is to bring maximum driving fun, not only on the track but also on low-grip surfaces. The mission of this car is transferring the driving experience that we have from the Huracan STO on the track to low-grip surfaces.

Lamborghini NA V12 swan song a track-only 830-hp Aventador SVR?

According to a poster on a McLaren Life forum and picked up by The Supercar Blog, Lamborghini is preparing a small-batch, track-only model to begin deliveries around 2021. At the end of last month, user Champagne612 wrote that he (or she) was "Going to spec next week and test drive the SVR V12 track version of AV." In the words of Champagne612, this Aventador SVR is the last hurrah for Lamborghini's naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12, a flourish before hybridization becomes necessary on the brand's iconic powerplant. Supposedly, only 40 SVRs will be made, each one producing 830 atmospheric horsepower. That would give the SVR 60 more horses than the road-legal SVJ. Lamborghini's only made two other SVR models. In 1968, there was the one-of-one Miura Jota SVR, a customer-request Lamborghini brewed with a mix of outsourced parts. More relevant to this latest car, in 1996 Lamborghini built 31 examples of the Diablo SV-R — based on the Diablo SV — to form a one-make race series. It's not clear if the coming SVR will be just a customer track-day car, a la the new Porsche 911 GT2 RS-based 935, or if Lamborghini has larger plans, a la the Ferrari FXX-K program. The Sant' Agata brand has leaned even more into the customer racing vibe of late, with a Urus one-make series planned, and the customer-request, road-legal Aventador-based SC18 Alston unveiled last year (pictured). Based on that, there's chatter that an Aventador SVR could be a feint at the so-called hypercar class opening next year in the World Endurance Championship. The connection seems more than tenuous, but it's not impossible. Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali said at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that the carmaker was perusing the hypercar regulations taking effect in 2020 until about 2025, and told Autocar that the SC18 Alston "shows that we have internal capabilities for such a [Le Mans] project." Those rules require a minimum weight of 1,100 kilograms, maximum combined output of 750 hp — an optional hybrid system can contribute no more than 270 hp — and a minimum of 20 production versions built over two years. Save for the fact that committed entries from Aston Martin and Toyota are much more slippery than any Lamborghini, the rules on paper put an Aventador-based model firmly in the mix, and unresolved regulations limiting downforce and mandating a minimum drag figure could inch an Italian competitor closer to the mark.