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Weekly Recap: Lamborghini fires on all cylinders

Lamborghini added 192 technicians and specialists in 2014 as the Italian automaker expands under the ambitious growth strategy of parent company Volkswagen AG. The additional workers helped Lamborghini increase its sales 19 percent last year to 2,530 supercars, and further expansion is planned for this year. Lambo has added more than 500 people in the last four years, bringing its headcount to 1,175. "Lamborghini is undergoing a strong phase of growth in both sales and in terms of recruitment," CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement. "We invest significantly in our people ... in 2015 we plan to hire further." The supercar maker's solid performance last year came during a time of transition. Lambo sold off the final 265 Gallardos, which were the brand's best-selling models ever. Its 10-cylinder successor, the Huracan, immediately filled the void. It garnered 3,300 orders, and 1,137 of them were delivered in 2014. The other Lamborghini, the 12-cylinder Aventador, saw its sales increase 13 percent to 1,128 copies. The sales leap comes as Volkswagen drives sales expansion across its portfolio of brands. The German carmaker sold 10 million vehicles around the world for the first time last year. Though Lambo will never make supercars in great numbers, it is expected to contribute to VW's bottom line through its image and profitable sales. Look for further growth this year, and a Super Veloce version (shown above) of the Aventador has already been spotted during testing. Lamborghini has been working on a sport utility vehicle for years, though the company has never publicly approved the project. It also showed a hybrid, the Asterion, at last year's Paris Motor show, suggesting the automaker is considering an electric future. Other News and Notes GMC ponders Jeep Wrangler fighter GMC is considering adding a competitor to the Jeep Wrangler and has discussed the idea with its dealers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Details of the vehicle are unclear, but the report suggested the vehicle could have cues from General Motors' old Hummer brand. The move would broaden GMC's lineup of trucks and SUVs and attract new customers. GMC sold 501,853 vehicles in 2014, making it GM's second-best selling brand. GMC had more volume than Cadillac and Buick combined, though it's still well behind Chevrolet's tally of more than two million vehicles. The notion of a "Wrangler fighter" could be a moving target.

Celebrating Ferruccio Lamborghini's 100th birthday

A tremendous thorn in Ferrari's side was born 100 years ago today. His name was Ferruccio Lamborghini, and today his company's cars are among the wildest and most desirable on the market. While the people of Sant'Agata Bolognese are probably raising several glasses of vino to Mr. Lamborghini, Hemmings has put together a great read on the man behind the brand. Lamborghini's start in the auto industry is the stuff of legend. Unsatisfied with the cars he bought from Ferrari and infuriated after being snubbed by the company's founder, Enzo, Lamborghini added an eponymous auto manufacturer to his tractor-building efforts. The Hemmings piece chronicles this feud, but digs far deeper into the brand's early days. Did you know part of the reason Lamborghini founded his company in Sant'Agata was because of the absolutely killer deal the local government cut with the company's founder? Seriously, the government gave out interest-free loans and exemptions from corporate taxes for its first ten years. Not a bad deal. From hiring Giotto Bizzarrini to design the company's early V12 engines to the debut of the iconic Miura, there's a lot of information here about the man and the company he built, going up until the 1970s, when he sold his shares and retired at just 58 years of age. Head over to Hemmings for the full read. Related Video:

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.