2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 512M and more immortalized as Lego sets

Lego has announced a slew of new Speed Champions sets, the ones based on actual licensed cars, for 2022. The latest batch includes a smorgasbord of supercars, from beloved classics like the Lamborghini Countach to yet-to-be-released promises like the long-awaited Mercedes-AMG One. There are seven cars in total, released in five sets.  Our favorite is probably the 262-piece Lamborghini Countach, based on a later LP500 variant. Not only does it tick the box of a childhood dream machine, but the angular shape of the real-life Countach lends itself well to being recreated in Lego bricks. Also, it's modeled in white rather than the typical red. Lego Speed Champions Ferrari 512M 1 View 6 Photos We also really dig the Ferrari 512M. It marked the last of Ferrari's V12 endurance racers, and even though it was soundly spanked by the Porsche 917, the cars are undeniably beautiful. The 291-piece Lego set does a great job of capturing its brutal wedge silhouette in brick form. Lego Speed Champions Lotus Evija 1 View 5 Photos Rounding out the single-car sets is the 247-piece Lotus Evija. The electric Lotus has a bit of a generic supercar look about it, but that's not entirely the fault of the Lego kit. Its dramatic vents can't really be replicated with the limited "resolution" of the Lego bricks. Its rear, with unique taillight-encircled air tunnels, is a bit more distinctive. Lego Speed Champions Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR & Vantage GT3 1 View 7 Photos In addition to the single car sets, there are two larger sets of two cars each. One is a 592-piece Aston Martin-themed pack that includes the Valkyrie AMR Pro and Vantage GT3. Again, it's a bit difficult to sculpt the cars' curvaceous lines out of straight-edged bricks, but the effort is admirable. The Valkyrie is probably the more successful of the two, as the Vantage would resemble a Corvette or Viper if it didn't have stickers to clarify the details. Lego Speed Champions Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Project One 01 View 9 Photos Last but not least is a twofer comprised of 564 bricks to build the Mercedes-AMG One and seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton's W12 racer. In Lego's official product description the driver is not mentioned by name, but the number 44 gives it away. The model of the One indeed looks like a sharp supercar, but the blocky pieces don't exactly replicate the lines we've seen on camouflaged test mules.

The Lamborghini Urus is the ultimate super-SUV, and you can win one here

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. No donation or payment is necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes. See official rules on Omaze. The stats: 641 horsepower. 0–60 in just over 3 seconds. A top speed of 190 miles per hour. All of those sound impressive in a performance car, but in a five-seat SUV, theyÂ’re bonkers. That kind of performance is what you get when youÂ’re behind the wheel of the 2021 Lamborghini Urus. Normally one of these super-SUVs will cost you right around a quarter of a million dollars, but for those of us who donÂ’t have that kind of cash, just head on over to Omaze, where theyÂ’re giving away a Urus, along with $20,000 in cash, with all taxes and delivery fees covered. Win a 2021 Lamborghini Urus and $20,000 - Enter at Omaze HereÂ’s what we said about the Urus when we first got behind the wheel: “With a full day of track, street and dirt driving ahead of us, our first impressions arrive hard and fast at the 2.54-mile Vallelunga circuit near Rome. It feels strange to sit behind the wheel of a Lamborghini with a turbocharged V8 and room for five, but the whip-like acceleration from a standstill leaves you neck-strained and satisfied. This thing is wickedly quick, with a claimed 0-to-62-mph time of 3.6 seconds. It might be quicker than that in the real world. That's speedier than a Gallardo, which isn't saddled with a 4,843-pound curb weight. Drop the car's numerical mass from your mind, and Urus also feels shockingly nimble in corners. Aided by active roll stabilization, an air suspension system that can lower the car up to 1.6 inches, active damping, torque vectoring, and sticky Pirelli Corsa rubber, the Urus manages to dance its way breezily through corners despite its relative heft. The standard 10-piston carbon ceramic brakes deliver phenomenal stopping power, though it sometimes felt like there was some additional brake assist that was boosting the slowdown efforts, making it difficult to finely modulate brake release during corner entry. “Dip the throttle and 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque gets laid down with a whole lot of help from the computers; there are some tight corners at Vallelunga that would have yielded understeer from a more analog vehicle, but the Urus's all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and torque vectoring enable a point-and-shoot approach at the track.

Audi: record profit as 'biggest product initiative' in its history gets underway

Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann   Even as the Audi Group (VOW.DE), VW’s luxury division, is in the midst of a huge EV transformation it still needs to perform where it counts — the bottom line. And so it is doing just that.  On Thursday the Audi Group - which is dominated volume-wise by Audi, but also includes Bentley, Lamborghini, and Ducati - posted record revenue and operating profit in 2022. That shouldnÂ’t be a surprise given what the industry has been seeing at the highest end of the market - record performances despite macroeconomic jitters across the globe. But that it's happening as the group is noteworthy.  “We are on the verge of the biggest product initiative in our history,” Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann said at a news conference earlier on Thursday. “By 2025, we will have launched around 20 new models, more than 10 of which will be all-electric. We have set the course to go 100% electric. By 2027, we seek to offer an all-electric vehicle in each core segment.”   This is all part of Audi GroupÂ’s Vorsprung 2030 plan, which seeks to have all of the groupÂ’s new models be electric by 2026 — and to end traditional gas-powered engine production by 2033. To that end, the group saw EV deliveries jump 44% (in 2022) compared to 2021 to over 118,000 vehicles, with the share of EVs rising to 7.2% from 4.8% in the prior year. Audi is also launching its first EV using the PPE (premium platform electric), which was developed together with Porsche. That EV, the Audi Q6 e-tron, will be unveiled later this year. (Past Audi EVs shared corporate parent VWÂ’s electric platform.) “With the Audi Q6 e-tron, e-mobility is coming from Ingolstadt (Audi HQ) for the first time,” Duesmann said in a statement. “To this end, weÂ’re also building a dedicated battery assembly facility on site. This will enable us to retain important know-how here in Germany and train our employees in future fields.” AudiÂ’s German rivals of course are also leaning in hard on their EV transformations. That makes it all the more important that Audi get its EV strategy right—and launched in a timely manner.