2004 Lamborghini Gallardo on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini battery electric 2+2 GT coming by 2027

Lamborghini's Sant'Agata factory hasn't put out a production four-seater car since the last Espada blasted down the road in 1978. We haven't stopped hearing rumors about another four-seat Lamborghini car since the Italians introduced the four-door Estoque at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The subject's been especially warm over the last three years, ever since former Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali told Automotive News in 2018 there was a five- to seven-year window to add a fourth vehicle to the lineup. Matters have firmed up since then, current CEO Stephan Winkelmann telling Autocar a few months ago that this fourth vehicle is in the initial stages of development and will hit the market "in the second half of the decade." Winkelmann said the company hasn't decided on the platform or the bodystyle — those answers come next year — but he favors a 2+2 GT. AutoNews' crystal ball gazing into future product says we'll get a battery-electric version of just that between 2025 and 2027. Porsche and Audi will contribute to the project, which is only natural seeing as they're the Volkswagen Group's mainstream performance brands leading the way with spicy EV sedans. With the changes that have happened at VW, the timeline means that the Italian brand might not adopt the Porsche Taycan's J1 platform nor the Audi A6 E-Tron's PPE platform, but could get the highly modular Scalable Systems Platform that debuts under the Audi Artemis in 2026. The SSP bones combine aspects of Volkswagen's mainstream MEB and performance-oriented PPE electric architectures. The conglomerate expects 80% of Group products to use it, counting some 40 million unit sales across all brands over the platform's lifetime. The only details we have about what's coming concern the EV's mission statement. Winkelmann said he told designers "this car has to be recognized as something different to what weÂ’ve done before" ... "[showing] a new way of designing cars" while still clearly being a Lamborghini. We would just like Lamborghini to remember that it has the Asterion (pictured) saved on a hard drive somewhere. Hint. As a middle child between the scarab-looking screamers the bull brand is most known for and the Urus SUV the brand makes the most money on, the electric GT is expected to sell annual volumes somewhere in between those siblings. As for capability, in 2019, company head of R&D Maurizio Reggiani mentioned 350 miles of range as a suitable figure.

Performance doesn't matter anymore, it's all about the feel

We've just had a week of supercars and high-end EVs revealed. Many of them boast outrageous performance specs. There were multiple vehicles with horsepower in the four-figure range, and not just sports cars, but SUVs with 0-60 mph times under 3.5 seconds. And it's not just a rarified set of supercar builders, comparatively small tuners are also building this stuff. Going fast is easy nowadays and getting easier. So what will distinguish the greats from the wannabes? It's all about how a car feels. This may seem obvious. "Of course it matters that a car should have good steering feel and a playful chassis!" you say. "Why are you being paid for this stuff?" But a lot of automakers have missed the memo. This past week I spent some time in a BMW M4 Competition convertible, and it's a perfect example of prioritizing performance over experience. It boggles my mind how a company can create such dead and disconnected steering; the weight never changes, there's no feel whatsoever. The chassis is inflappable, but to a fault, because it doesn't feel like anything you're doing is difficult or exciting. The car is astoundingly fast and capable, but it feels less like driving a car and more like tapping in a heading on the Enterprise-D. I also happened to drive something of comparable performance that was much more enjoyable: a Mercedes-AMG GT. It was a basic model with the Stealth Edition blackout package, and even though it had a twin-turbo V8 instead of a six-cylinder, it only made 20 more horsepower. The power wasn't the big differentiator, it was (say it with me) the feel. While not the best example, the steering builds resistance as you dial in lock, giving you a better idea of what's happening up front. Pulses and vibrations come back to you as you move over bumpy pavement in corners. The chassis isn't quite as buttoned down, either, providing a little bit of body roll that tells you you're pushing it. It's also easier to feel when the car is wanting to understeer or oversteer, and how your throttle and steering inputs are affecting it. The whole thing is much more involving, exciting and fun. 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Stealth Edition View 8 Photos That's also to say nothing of the Merc's sounds. That V8 is maybe not the best sounding engine, but its urgent churn through the opened-up exhaust gets your heart racing. It also seems like it's vibrating the whole cabin, so you feel it as much as you hear it.

Volkswagen Group's Vision 2030 strategy could bring revolution to the brands

One would expect a corporate plan called "Vision 2030," looking 11 years ahead through wildly tumultuous times, to involve great change and numerous forks in numerous roads. According to Automobile's breakdown of Volkswagen's path forward, though, the plans contain some lurid potential surprises. The ultimate aim is return on investment, and that means ruthless reorganization of a conglomerate with eight primary car brands, two car sub-brands, and Ducati motorcycles. The first two Vision 2030 cornerstones Automobile mentions are near boilerplate: Production network restructuring, and "streamlining of key technologies." The latter two are the ones that could upend what we know as the Volkswagen Group: focusing on the Group's core brands — meaning Audi, Porsche, and VW — and transitioning to EVs, autonomy, and other mobility solutions. Based on the report, a quote from Audi's CTO referring to the Audi brand could cover how the Group plans to handle all of its brands: "We need to find a sustainable solution for the indefinite transition period until EVs eventually take over." The boutique divisions adjacent to carmaking, Ducati and Italdesign, look likely to be spun off. For the halo car brands — Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini — apparently shareholders want double-digit returns on investment, and the trio doesn't have long to hit the target. One eyebrow raiser is when the report states, "Bugatti is tipped to be gifted to [ex-VW Group Chairman] Ferdinand Piech." Piech fathered the Veyron during his tenure at VW, and it was thought he commissioned the La Voiture Noire, but he's lately stepped so far back from VW that he sold all his shares in the Group. Automobile quoted a senior strategist as saying of money-losing Bentley, "Why invest on a backward-looking enterprise when you can support a trendsetter? A proud history and excellent craftmanship alone don't cut it anymore." We guess no one at Ferrari, McLaren, or even Porsche got that memo. Bentley is reportedly close to being put in time out, and if brand CEO Adrian Hallmark can't right the Crewe ship, the hush-hush Plan B is to prop the Flying B up enough to lure a buyer. As for Lamborghini, caught between two masters at Audi and Porsche, even record-breaking numbers at the Italian supercar maker barely staved off sacrilege. It's said that VW brand CEO Herbert Diess considered putting a 5.0-liter Porsche V8 into the Aventador successor.