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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.

Salvage team boards burnt ship Felicity Ace off Azores, towing begins

LISBON — More than a week after a ship packed with around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a salvage team managed to board the vessel on Friday and started to tow it to a safe location off the Portuguese Azores archipelago. In a statement, ship manager Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL) said the Felicity Ace remained stable, and the smoke that for days billowed from the vessel, adrift around 170 km southwest of the Azores, had stopped. The 22 crew members of the Panama-flagged Felicity Ace, which was carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys from Germany to the United States, were evacuated last Wednesday, the day the fire broke out. Some of the vehicles are electric and their lithium-ion batteries have made the fire very difficult to extinguish, port officials have said. Previous attempts to board the ship to assess its condition and start preparing it for towing had failed due to the fire and rough seas. On Friday, the team was able to board by helicopter and the salvage boat Bear started towing the vessel to a "safe area off Azores," the ship manager said. It was not clear where exactly the vessel was being towed to. It was being escorted by two tug boats and another salvage craft equipped with firefighting gear, MOL said. Related video: Image Credit: Portuguese Navy (Marinha Portuguesa) via Reuters Green Weird Car News Audi Bentley Lamborghini Porsche Electric fire car fire shipping cargo ship

Lamborghini Huracan is officially sold out through end of production

The Lamborghini Gallardo managed a trick no V8-powered Lamborghini pulled off before, going back to the 1973 Urraco: Act as a thoroughly worthy undercard to the V12 main event. Perhaps the two extra cylinders made the difference, the Italian automaker selling 14,022 examples during the Gallardo's 10 years on sale. That was a massive number, especially when the automaker was selling closer to 1,000 cars per year than the 9,233 it sold last year. The Huracan proved an even sweeter package, selling 14,022 units in just five years. With more than 20,000 on the roads worldwide, the V10 storm is about to come to an end. A single sentence in Lamborghini's summary of Q1 financial performance reveals the V10 is "sold out till the end of production." The results summary doesn't specify the date the last Huracan rumbles off the line. We know it will happen sometime next year, the automaker's production almost entirely accounted for through the end of 2024. Whatever follows the Huracan will make its debut later this year, and somehow, Lamborghini has managed to keep the powertrain secret. It's agreed that the chassis will be a modified version of the platform created for the V12 hybrid flagship Revuelto. Car magazine says the Revuelto's "monofuselage" will be reworked with aluminum to lower the price. As recently as last November, Auto Express wrote about Lamborghini technical officer Rouven Mohr saying, "[the Huracan successor is] not a range-oriented hybrid and there will be no kind of downsizing," the mag saying Mohr conveyed the sentiment "that it’s against LamborghiniÂ’s philosophy to reduce the engine size and then 'compensate' with electrification as some rivals have done."  A twin-turbo hybrid V8 has come up more recently, this engine being of Lamborghini's design. With the company longer having a corporate sibling in the Volkswagen Group stable to share V10 hybrid costs and upkeep with, a hybrid V8 makes much more sense. The Group is awash in V8s and will be using hybridized versions in models from several brands. The scuttlebutt on this engine alleges about 850 horsepower of total output, turbos that don't spool up until 7,000 rpm, and a 10,000-rpm redline. And we already know it's going to sell like hotcakes — or crespolini, rather.  Related: 2023 Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato First Drive: Ridiculous obliteration of boundaries Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.