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2017 Frankfurt Motor Show | Observations on the Ferrari Portofino, Honda Urban EV and more

Related: We obsessively covered the Frankfurt Motor Show — here's our complete coverage The 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show kicked off the fall reveal season with an impressive array of powerful cars blended with forward-looking concepts. It's a seminal period for automakers, who find themselves at the intersection of disruption and opportunity. With that in mind, here are four takeaways from Frankfurt. The transformation of the curvy yet overbaked Ferrari California T into the Portofino is complete, and its coming-out party in Frankfurt served notice that Ferrari's entry-level sports car is much more formidable. There was nothing wrong with the California (and later the California T), but the Portofino features a cleaner look with stronger lines and an elegant resemblance to the rest of the Ferrari family. The California name is a good one. Used on a number of memorable cars in the 1950s and '60s, it's steeped in tradition, and certainly Ferrari will dust it off again. But switching to Portofino, the name of a scenic town in Italy, is a nice way to change the conversation and generate fresh interest in this part of the Ferrari portfolio. Man, people are stoked over the Honda Urban EV concept. Why? I assume it's the retro look that harks back to early Civics, and the lack of information about the concept itself. What people don't know, they're imagining. Honda hasn't even confirmed the range, the car is very small, and it likely won't be sold in the United States. With this dearth of facts, enthusiasts are filling in their own blanks. I guess that's OK. Count me among the intrigued. When I saw pictures of this thing early Tuesday morning, I was pretty excited, too. We do know Honda is expanding its electric strategy, and two-thirds of its new vehicles sold around the world will have some form of electrification by 2030. The Urban EV launches in Europe in 2019, and a hybrid CR-V rolls out in Europe next year. Unconfirmed for the U.S. market, it seems like a no-brainer to bring that version of the CR-V here. The electrification and autonomous tech parade of concepts continues. You gotta be there. It's the cost of doing business in the modern automotive landscape. This technology takes years to develop and launch, so the next best thing to remind the world you're trying to be cutting-edge is to show off lots of fancy concepts. Frankfurt had plenty. A couple standouts: The BMW I Vision Dynamics and Audi's Elaine and Aicon.

Audi reportedly shoots down $9.2 billion investor bid for Lamborghini

Volkswagen is open to divesting some of the brands in its portfolio, but it hasn't put a "for sale" sign on in front of Lamborghini's lawn yet. The firm allegedly shot down a big offer for the brand from a group of investors. Quantum Group SA, a newly-established holding company based in Zurich, Switzerland, made the non-binding offer in May 2021, according to anonymous sources who spoke to WardsAuto. The publication adds the group is ready to spend 7.5 billion euros (around $9.2 billion at the current conversion rate) to buy the entire Lamborghini division from Audi. The sale would include the brand, its intellectual property (like its trademarks and patents), its historic factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, and its racing division. Full details about the proposed acquisition were closely examined by top Volkswagen executives, including company CEO Herbert Diess and Audi boss Markus Duesmann. While the offer sounds like it's neatly packaged, Volkswagen replied that it's not having a garage sale. "Lamborghini is not for sale. This is not the subject of any discussion within the group," a company spokesperson told industry trade journal Automotive News. These comments are in line with the ones made in December 2020. Quantum's aim wasn't to sever all ties with Volkswagen. It planned to turn Lamborghini into "a spearhead for innovation by consistently implementing new clean drivetrain technologies" across the range, a strategy that's already in the pipeline; Lamborghini announced it will electrify in the 2020s and launch its first series-produced EV. Investors also hoped to sign a five-year supply agreement with Audi, and to create what they called an Advanced Automotive Innovation Center headquartered somewhere in Lower Saxony, the German state Wolfsburg is in. In late 2020, when rumors about an imminent Lamborghini spin-off were rampant, Volkswagen stressed it had no plans to sell the Italian supercar manufacturer or to find a new home for Ducati, which Lamborghini owns. Unverified reports claim a chunk of the company could be listed on the stock market in a bid to raise revenue, however. Bugatti is another part of the Volkswagen empire that Diess and his team allegedly wanted to trade in to fund the group's pivot towards electric powertrains. In September 2020, reports claimed top executives had approved swapping the storied French carmaker and its assets for a significant stake in Croatia-based Rimac that would be transferred directly to Porsche.

Audi reveals new TT spec racer

We've seen the coupe. We've seen the convertible. We're still waiting on word of the next variant, but before it arrives, Audi has revealed the racing version of the new TT.
Set to form the backbone of the inaugural Audi Sport TT Cup, the competition-spec sports coupe is closely based on the production version packs the same 2.0-liter turbo four and six-speed dual-clutch transmission as the road-going TTS, delivering the same 310 horsepower, but with a push-to-pass boost of an extra 30 hp.
It's also got an active differential, and while the full specifications have not yet been revealed, it's clear that Audi has also outfitted the TT racer with more aggressive aero, track-spec rolling stock and a stripped-out cockpit (complete with the Audi PS1 Safety Seat from the R8 LMS Ultra) to get weight down to from 2,700 pounds in stock production form to 2,480.