2024 Lamborghini Urus Performante Sport Utility 4d on 2040-cars

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Volkswagen posts quarterly profit despite drop in sales

Volkswagen returned to profit in the third quarter as surging Chinese demand for luxury cars helped offset a 1.1% drop in vehicle deliveries due to the pandemic, sending its shares as much as 3% higher on Thursday. The German automaker's return to the black comes amid spiking coronavirus cases in Europe that led governments in France and Germany to order their countries back into strict national lockdowns on Wednesday. "The coronavirus remains a central problem," Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said in a conference call with reporters. "This situation now is anything but relaxed." But Witter said the group expected the economic recovery to continue and did "not anticipate any nationwide lockdowns in larger markets." Witter said the takeover of U.S. truck maker Navistar International by Volkswagen's trucking unit Traton was an important acquisition, but the "current economic climate will not make this easy." Volkswagen reiterated it expects to post a profit for the full year, saying its business "recovered noticeably" in the third quarter as sales in China of premium vehicles, including Audi and Porsche sports cars, rose 3%. The quarterly performance was also aided by a series of cost-cutting measures launched earlier this year. Volkswagen said its net liquidity rose to 24.8 billion euros from 18.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Excluding one-time items, third-quarter operating profit was 3.2 billion euros ($3.8 billion), down from 4.8 billion euros a year earlier, but up from a second quarter loss of 1.7 billion. In a note to clients, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois described the results as a "solid performance with strong cash, but relatively muted in the context of the (auto) sector recovery." Last week, German rival Daimler reported a record 24% jump in Chinese demand for its Mercedes-Benz cars, boosting its margins in the third quarter. Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group both also posted solid results this week. Witter said Volkswagen could not say for sure whether it would meet EU CO2 emissions targets this year, adding "it will be a tough race." At 1030 GMT, Volkswagen shares were up 2.9% at 129.20 euros. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Audi Bentley Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche Volkswagen

Lamborghini Tecnomar 63 yacht: Raging boat

A year after being announced, the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 express cruiser is in the water with its first owner. The co-creation of Lamborghini Centro Stile and Italian boat maker Tecnomar, the water-borne speedster makes the most obvious nod toward the limited-edition Sian FKP 37 introduced in 2019, but gathers cues to the automaker's entire history. The Verde Gea paint matches the Sian's launch color. The helm seats come from the Huracan Evo and are fitted with Sparco seatbelts. The steering wheel, minus airbag and paddle shifters, migrated from an Aventador, the gauge cluster behind sparkling with graphics recognizable from current Lamborghinis. The throttle levers mimic the shift selector in the Urus, the same fighter-plane-style cover hovering over the engine start button. The windows, meanwhile, channel the hexagonal shapes that have ornamented vehicles from Sant'Agata Bolognese since 1963.   Oh, the irony that the heaviest and most powerful Lamborghini ever created fits into the ultra-lightweight class, a segment never graced by one of the automaker's cars. A weight-shaving carbon fiber superstructure slides into a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) hull to keep weight down to about 53,000 pounds. Two MAN V12 diesel engines — MAN is another Volkswagen Group brand — work together to blow 4,000-hp bubbles into the water. They get the Tecnomar to a top speed of 60 knots (69 miles per hour). Burning about 100 gallons per hour at cruising speeds between 40 and 45 knots (46 and 52 mph), there's enough fuel to run for about 360 miles. That's long distance moving.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Occupant spaces include the galley and dinette behind the helm, and sunpads on the fore and aft decks, that latter one with a pop-out television. Accommodations below deck are dressed in leather, Alcantara, and carbon fiber, with Y-shaped motifs most familiar in Lamborghini lighting signatures. There's a master suite forward, its bed overlooked by a sunlight shaped like a Lamborghini badge, and a guest cabin with two twin berths.  There will be just 63 Tenomar for Lamborghini 63 cruisers built, and we know one of them has already been spoken for by UFC fighter Connor McGregor. Reps at Lamborghini and Tecnomar wouldn't say how many of the roughly $3.5 million craft have been sold, but they did admit that production through the end of 2022 is sold out.

2024 Lamborghini Revuelto is the 1,001-horsepower start of a new era

Marketed as the beginning of a new era, the Lamborghini Revuelto takes the torch from the Aventador with a muscular-looking design, a more spacious interior, and a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain rated at 1,001 horsepower. The firm's next flagship is new from the ground up, even its carbon fiber chassis was developed from scratch, and it blazes the path that future models will follow in the coming years. Low, wide, and head-turning, the Revuelto is instantly recognizable as a Lamborghini. And yet, it's a new breed of bull: its headlights are tucked under the hood (rather than mounted flush with the front-end panels) and underlined by Y-shaped LED daytime running lights, while its back end is dominated by a pair of high-mounted exhaust outlets and a massive carbon fiber diffuser. One of the coolest design details is the decklid: made out of carbon fiber to save weight, it's shaped like a U to give onlookers an unobstructed view of the new V12 engine. "I like motorcycles, and it's always fascinating to bring in some ideas from the motorcycle world. So, like this we came up with the idea of the hidden front lights," Lamborghini design boss Mitja Borkert told me. This also explains why the exhaust outlets are proudly mounted high up on the rear fascia; it's a design cue that floated into the galaxy of cars from the world of motorcycles (especially ones designed for racing). There's far more to the design than a few bike-inspired styling cues, though. "We have this powertrain, and we were saying that it's for sure one of the last V12s so let's celebrate it. Let's make it visible. That's why the engine is completely visible," Borkert added, stressing that his team's goal was for the new model to unmistakably channel Lamborghini's DNA without copying a previous, future, or existing model.  Stretching the wheelbase by about three inches and raising the roof line by around an inch allowed Lamborghini to carve out a more spacious interior (something Aventador owners asked for). Don't expect third-row seating and 12 cupholders, we're talking about a supercar, but legroom has increased and there's now space behind the seats to store small items, like a purse or a briefcase. Most of the buttons that the driver needs to access quickly while driving are located on the steering wheel: You can signal, activate the front-end lift system, turn on the wipers, and switch driving modes while keeping both hands on the wheel.