Lamborghini Countash Used on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2018 Lamborghini Huracan Performante Second Drive | The Lambo of the moment

Down the front straight, past the pits, over the start/finish line, sixth gear at 140 mph. Suddenly, the shrieking wail of the 2018 Lamborghini Huracan Performante's mid-mounted V-10 and hits me right between the eyes. It's an easy shot, since I'm wearing an open-face helmet. Speed is not a problem for the Performante. This new lighter and more powerful version of the Huracan is the best-performing Lambo of all time. It just set the new production-car record around the Nurburgring Nordschleife of 6 minutes, 52.1 seconds. That's 35 seconds quicker than the standard Huracan. And Lambo says it can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, which is as quick as the Aventador S. Its 202-mph top speed still lags the top end of the V-12-powered Aventador by 15 mph, but does it really matter? Completely flat, smooth as glass and just 1.8 miles around, Thermal's South Palm Circuit isn't exactly the Nordschleife, but the bathrooms are much fancier. Built in 2014, the luxurious Thermal Motorsports Club outside of Palm Springs, Calif., is an ideal facility for us to taste the 2018 Huracan Performante. If owners of the $274,390 supercar want a safe and controlled environment to wring out their new toy, chances are it will be at private amusement parks such as this. In the age of twin-turbos, the Huracan's naturally aspirated V10 is a (glorious) anachronism. In the Performante, it has been cranked up to 640 hp at 8,000 rpm and 442 lb-ft of torque at 6,500 rpm, a 30-hp and 40-lb-ft increase over the standard all-wheel-drive model, and it's all above 6,000 rpm. Displacement remains 5.2 liters, but Lambo's engineers added lighter titanium intake valves, more aggressive camshafts, a less-restrictive air intake and a lighter freer-flowing exhaust system. The engine's compression ratio remains a stratospheric 12.7:1, and it runs into a very aggressive rev limiter at 8,500 rpm. The Performante is 88 pounds lighter than the standard Huracan Coupe thanks to liberal use of the company's patented Forged Composite, which it calls the lightest, strongest and most innovative material ever used by Lamborghini. Chopped fibers embedded in a matrix of resins, it's sort of like carbon fiber 2.0, although its finish looks like high-tech camo with golden flecks. It's all over the Performante, including its massive rear spoiler, rear bumper and diffuser, front spoiler and its engine cover, which weights 21 percent less than the piece it replaced.

Lamborghini Veneno makes North American debut

Love it or hate it, the Lamborghini Veneno is an incredible - and incredibly rare - car. With Lamborghini committed to building just three examples of the Veneno, it's very likely that we'll only ever see this pre-production show car in our lifetime.
That doesn't mean we'll be any less excited about laying our eyes on this fine example of the world's most-expensive production car, which we recently did as the Veneno made its US debut at the Quail Motorsports Gathering. Now that we see it again, it might look even better under the California sun than it did the last time we saw it under the bright lights of the Geneva Motor Show. Now, if we could just find the keys...

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.