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2012 Pebble Beach Concept Car Lawn offers a tutorial in cars to come

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is a showcase for some of the world's most exquisite vintage vehicles, but if newer metal is more your speed, the Concept Car Lawn is the place to be.
This year saw models from Bugatti, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley as well as SRT, Hennessey, Infiniti and Lexus among others. The ultimate sampler platter of exotic and concept vehicles saw the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse mingle with the Lamborghini Urus Concept and the mighty Hennessey Venom GT, though we found ourselves particularly smitten with the BMW Zagato Roadster and the Aston Martin Vanquish.
Not that we could go wrong anywhere we looked. The 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed seemed perfectly content parked on the manicured putting green, as did the McLaren MP4-12C Spider. Get cozy with the full gallery below to see the smattering of metal on the lawn.

Lamborghini confirms next-gen Aventador and Huracan to be PHEVs

It's official, Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed to Top Gear magazine that the next-generation Aventador and Huracan will get plug-in hybrid powertrains. Autocar reported last October that the next Huracan would get "next-generation" batteries to aid its naturally aspirated V10 when it debuts around 2022. The fate of the Aventador S's successor, however, was unclear beyond the certainty of it featuring a mid-mounted V12. Now we know it will get a naturally aspirated V12 with electric help when it arrives in 2020 or so, and both cars will boast a small all-electric range. Top Gear imagined how much each coupe could gain — both in weight and in power — by mating each car's current engine with the 134-horsepower electric motor and 14-kWh lithium-ion battery pack from the Porsche Panamera Turbo S e-hybrid. TG figures the Aventador S replacement would go from 730 hp and 508 pound-feet of torque to 860 hp and 566 lb-ft. That's the good news. The bad news is that Porsche said the hybrid system adds 661 pounds to the weight of the Panamera. Tack that onto the Lamborghini, and an Aventador S goes up a weight class to 4,354 pounds. The new Huracan output stretches from 602 hp and 412 lb-ft to 728 hp and 471 lb-ft, and 3,796 pounds. Judged on the results of that purely imaginary fancy, Top Gear says the numbers "well and truly stack up." We think that given the chance to add 130 horsepower at the price of putting a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy in the trunk — or the weight of second complete engine — we might ask if there were other tradeoffs available. We're certain Lamborghini's working all the angles, though, and confident the Sant' Agata carmaker will translate its actual figures into another duo of brutal, bewitching sports cars. The brand is looking beyond the near-term hybrids to what could come after, as well. Domenicali said he doesn't believe there will be sufficient potential in electric powertrains until 2026, but he's ready with concepts like the Terzo Millennio whenever the powertrains are. Lamborghini's also working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to "write an important page in the future of super sports cars for the third millennium," suspected to center on lightweight materials, solid-state batteries, and alternative fuels. On that last note, Domenicali's already eyeing the potential of using hydrogen fuel cells in the distant future.

Jon Olsson drives his Lambo up a glacier because why not?

The latest stunt by Jon Olsson has no particular purpose, but we love it just the same. Olsson, a former ski racer, always has a neat car with an equipment carrier stuck on top, and in this video he puts his customized rear-drive Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 to work at Fonna Glacier Ski Resort in Norway. Makse sense to us. As he says in the short video, the aim is to have fun. He drives the Lambo up the Norwegian glacier aided by monster rear tires with some frightening studs, and then he makes things a little more interesting by creating a giant giant slalom course for the car. Olsson even clips the gates with the mirrors and front tires as he makes the turns, like you would on skis (except replace mirrors with pole guards and tires with skis). Snow is sprayed, there's lots of V12 revving, and it's all beautifully shot. It looks like he accomplished his modest goal. A little more about the car: On his website, Olsson says it took three years to build. One year was wasted by the first guy that offered to build it for free and ended up selling parts off of it to make rent. It then took two years to make things right again and add a carbon-fiber body kit, an IPE exhaust, a suede interior, a carbon steering wheel from a Gallardo, bigger brakes, and convert it to rear-wheel drive. His signature ski box sits on top, supported by a custom rack, and of course the whole car is plastered with logos from Olsson's sponsors, because those winterized supercars cost money, you know? Oh, and Olsson has owned a lot of cars. Mostly Audis and Lamborghinis lately, but his past includes a couple of track-prepped 3 Series and a Mazda B2000. Our kind of dude. Related Video: