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Lamborghini goes from carbon fiber to carbon neutral [w/video]

Draw up a list in your mind of automakers striving to "save the environment," and you might be forgiven for not ranking Lamborghini very high on impressions alone. After all, it only makes supercars with double-digit cylinder counts, displacing over 5.0 liters, and producing in excess of 600 horsepower. Hardly what you'd characterize as "green" modes of transportation, then. And though it recently showed a hybrid sports car concept, it has opted next to build an SUV instead. However the Raging Bull marque is out to rehabilitate its image by changing the reality of its carbon footprint. It's just not about to do so by watering down the supercars for which it is known. "We are not here to please a single customer. We are here to pass this territory unharmed to the next generation." – Lamborghini CEO, Stephan Winkelmann This week the Italian automaker officially opened its new Trigeneration Plant – which is not, lest you think otherwise, an assembly facility spanning multiple eras of production. It's a new power plant, built on the site of the company's headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese, that will generate its electricity, heating, and cooling, all from the same source of natural gas. The plant has an installed (potential) capacity of 1.2 megawatts, and will (practically speaking) be capable of generating over 25,000 MWh every year. That'd be enough to power all the houses in Sant'Agata, the otherwise sleepy town which Lamborghini shares with about 7,000 residents. The clean-burning facility is estimated to cut out 820 tons of CO2 every year, and by 2017 is slated to run on biofuel to raise that figure to a claimed 5,600 tons per year. The question is, who cares? Sure, people buying EVs and free-range chickens want to be assured that their buying habits fit their environmental conscience, but does the average Lamborghini buyer really care if their new supercar came from an environmentally friendly factory? "If we are going to do the things only because of the importance first thing for the customer, we would not be here anymore," Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann told us during roundtable discussion at the opening of the Trigeneration Plant. "We are not here to please a single customer. We are here to pass this territory unharmed to the next generation." "It would be ridiculous if you would say we are going to save the world.

Volkswagen may 'carve out' Lamborghini to list on the stock exchange

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen is drawing up plans to set up Lamborghini as a more independent unit, and is discussing long-term supply deals that could make it easier to list it on the stock exchange, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. "Volkswagen is in the process of carving out Lamborghini, and to organize future supply and technology transfer deals," one of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Italian sportscar brand, which is currently a division of Audi, could be partially listed, with Volkswagen retaining a controlling stake, the first person familiar with the talks said. There is no formal decision to divest Lamborghini, a second source said, adding that the timetable of any deal remained unclear. "This is a first step which gives VW the option to list the unit further down the line," the second source told Reuters. A third source familiar with the discussions said the future of Bugatti, Lamborghini and Ducati was discussed during a supervisory board meeting last Friday. The possibilities for how to electrify the Lamborghini and Bugatti brands through partnerships and investors was discussed, the third source said. Bankers and potential cornerstone investors in an IPO have been approached by the carmaker, the sources said. Volkswagen declined to comment. Volkswagen Group's Chief Executive Herbert Diess on Wednesday said the carmaker will announce "important steps" about the company's future before the close of the year. Volkswagen is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play within the multi-brand carmaker as part of broader quest for more economies of scale, senior executives told Reuters. A global clampdown on combustion-engined vehicles has forced carmakers to accelerate development of low-emission technology for mainstream models, leaving Volkswagen managers struggling to find resources to electrify low volume sportscar models. Related Video:

Barn-find 1969 Lamborghini Miura S headed to auction for its 50th birthday

Car collectors who have caught barn find fever show no sign of healing from it anytime soon. An unrestored, barn-found 1969 Lamborghini Miura S will sell for big money when it crosses the auction block in the fall of 2019, and it might return to the road in time to celebrate its 50th birthday. Auction house RM Sotheby's explains the Miura S it will sell in London on October 24 has only covered a little bit over 10,000 miles since it rolled off the assembly line in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. German advertising executive Walter Becker purchased the car in 1971, according to CarBuzz, and sold it to racing driver Hans-Peter Weber in 1974. He drove the Miura, maintained it, and went to great lengths to keep it original until he died in 2015. It has been parked in a German barn since, so it's a freshman barn find that likely doesn't need a ton of work to once again move under its own power. We'd be more worried if it spent 25 years in a barn. The front turn signals aren't original, and the seatbelts are aftermarket units, but the rest of the car is 100% authentic. Its body has never been repainted, the seats have never been re-upholstered, and the 365-horsepower, 3.9-liter V12 engine has never been opened. It's complete, and there are no signs of obvious damage or neglect. We've seen 10-year old supercars in worse shape than this one. The Miura is one of the most sought-after 1960s Italian cars, only 338 examples of the S variant were made from 1968 to 1971, and finding an unrestored example that hasn't been completely destroyed by people, rust, or both is rare. RM Sotheby's expects the 1969 model scheduled to cross the block in London will sell for anywhere between 800,000 and one million British pounds, sums that represent $965,000 and $1.2 million, respectively. We'd get the V12 running, keep the rest original, and enjoy it, but the next owner might be tempted to give it a full restoration, especially now that Lamborghini sells a full catalog of Miura parts via its Polo Storico division. Featured Gallery 1969 Lamborghini Miura S barn find View 18 Photos Auto News Lamborghini Performance Classics