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Lamborghini caps 2020 production at 8,000 to preserve cachet, resale values

Lamborghini chairman and CEO Stefano Domenicali told Car Advice that the Sant'Agata Bolognese automaker will cap production at 8,000 cars in 2020. Even though the cap doesn't take effect for a year, it has caught us by surprise — we didn't realize just how well Lamborghini is doing. In 2010, Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide, while its rival in Modena sold 6,461 units. Last year, Lamborghini broke all of its records on the way to a 51 percent sales increase and 5,750 cars delivered. The cap maintains two post-sale hallmarks required to fuel Lamborghini's new-car sales: exclusivity and resale values. Ferrari has led the way with public declarations of voluntary caps to maintain brand cachet, and Lamborghini's happy to shadow that leader. Domenicali, an ex-Ferrari man, didn't miss an opportunity to put the running bull's nose ahead of the prancing horse's in his comments, though. He told the Australian publication, "I can also say that for us, Ferrari has always been a reference ... as well as others in the super sports car segment, but we have already achieved higher residual values for our cars, especially with some of our older models." The boss marked out half the 2020 allotment for the Urus, two-thirds of the remainder for the Huracan, and the rest for the Aventador. We expect any 2020 cap to apply only to 2020, though. If Lamborghini can hustle a 40 percent increase in deliveries this year — 2,300 more units, and that's not outside the realm of possibility since this is the first full year of Urus sales — then in 2019 the carmaker will exceed the 2020 cap by 50 units. In such case, shrinking supply next year would help sustain the lather of acolytes, as well as copy another page from Ferrari's handbook. In 2013, then-Ferrari CEO Luca Montezemolo held production to under 7,000 units, after building 7,318 cars in 2012. In 2014, then-Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne said he'd stick to the "willful and intended" 7,000-unit cap. But when Ferrari announces its 2018 results soon, we expect uncapped shipments to exceed 9,000 units. Other upward pressures on Lamborghini's sales would be the success of the Huracan GT3 EVO, which won the GTD class in the weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona, a year after the Huracan GT3 won in 2018. Lamborghini Squadra Corse has built more than 200 customer racers, and no one would rule out a few more orders phoned in on Monday.

Charity supercar run results in 3 Lamborghinis going up in flames

A charity drive in Singapore went quite awry when a convoy of Lamborghinis smashed into each other on one of the city-state's highways, with one of the cars catching fire. And while it's easy to assume that the supercars were at fault, initial reports contradict that assumption.
It turns out the crash was a chain reaction set off by a local driver swerving toward two Gallardos and an Aventador, sending the latter into the guard rail and causing it to go up in flames. According to the report on CarBuzz, there were no injuries in the incident, although the circumstances - super cars burning in the midst of a charity event - draw some parallels to the tragic accident involving Paul Walker and Roger Rodas.
There's a short video taken after the wreck that can be viewed below. CarBuzz also has a few different images of the accident, aside from the screencap shown above.

Phony Fauxrrari and Shamborghini replicas seized in Brazil

A shop in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil has been raided and shut down by police after it was discovered that it was turning out shoddy replica supercars. The Fauxrrari and Shamborghini (we borrowed the latter clever term from the Associated Press) copies themselves look impressively detailed considering that they were reportedly coming out of a father-son operation, but the engineering, underpinnings and powertrains are surely a wee bit shy of what's flowing out of the real factories in Italy. According to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, one replica was powered by the engine from a Chevrolet Omega, which we knew at one time in the U.S. as the Cadillac Catera. Scrolling through the image gallery above, though, we see at least one Ferrari knock-off that appears to have a bright red intake manifold behind the passenger compartment, so who knows? Police reported that the replicas were being offered on unknown social media channels for between $45,000 and $60,000. Needless to say, that's nowhere near the price of a real Ferrari or Lamborghini. And this isn't the first (and likely, not the last) time this has happened, either. According to the AP, the raid was conducted after at least one of the Italian marques tipped off authorities. Eight vehicles in various states of completion were found, along with tools, molds and what looks to be a treasure trove of car parts. It's not clear how many finished vehicles may have rolled out of the shop, or how many may already be in the hands of buyers. The father and son duo who ran the operation have been arrested on industrial property charges.