2009 Lamborghini Murcielago Lp 640 Coupe on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini Veneno could be yours for just $11 million

How could an automaker charge over three million euros for a single automobile, no matter how rare or extreme? That's what we wondered when Lamborghini took the wraps off the Veneno at the Geneva Motor Show, with a price tag working out to over $4 million US using exchange rates at the time. But that suddenly seems downright reasonable when you see how much this owner is asking for one. Listed for sale on a German website by a broker in Japan, this particular Veneno is accompanied by an asking price of ˆ9.98 million. That works out to over $11 million at current rates, or a good three times what it originally cost when new, depending on which currency you're going by. Either way, that's one heck of a markup for a car now three years old, even if it only has about 840 kilometers (522 miles) on the odometer. You'd think, considering its lofty asking price, the seller could have provided some decent pictures, but apparently not. Lamborghini made only three examples of the Veneno coupe for public consumption, and this example is said to be the second. With the other two sold to owners here in the United States (in Long Island and Miami), this appears to be the one sold to a customer in China, and was previously spotted in Hong Kong on its way to Macau. No matter which way you look at it, the Veneno is a rare beast... even counting the nine roadsters that followed with an even more bullish price tag. Put in that context, the ˆ1.75m-euro ($1.9m) sticker price worn by the Centenario revealed in Geneva this year – also based on the Aventador with a more extreme design – seems like a relative bargain. Related Video:

2020 Lamborghini Aventador S Review | One last go in the ring

A sign at the Miura Ranch in Andalusia, Spain, warns any careless human, “Ganado Bravo – Prohibito Entrar.” Brave Cattle – Do Not Enter. The cattle at issue are specifically bulls, and Ferruccio LamborghiniÂ’s visit to the ranch in the 1960s – Lamborghini himself was a Taurus – would provide the thematic source for the names of his cars. Legend says Murcielago, a Navarra fighting bull, was sired into Don Antonio MiuraÂ’s breeding line in 1879 after surviving 24 stabs from the matadorÂ’s espada – the audience had clamored for the matador to spare the bullÂ’s life. The bull christened Aventador got no such reprieve, killed by Matador Emilio Munoz during a bullfight in 1993 in Zaragoza. Aventador did, though, fight fiercely enough to earn the accolade Trofeo de la Pena La Madronera, awarded to the bravest bull by ZaragosaÂ’s only female bullfighting club, La Madronera. Then someone cut off one of AventadorÂ’s ears and gave it to Munoz as a trophy. The Lamborghini Aventador, over a run of nine years and going, has fought just as bravely as its namesake and deserves the same trophy. It also – as much as it pains me to write this – deserves to be put to rest. The looks of the 2020 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster donÂ’t disappoint. Despite the name changes since Marcelo GandiniÂ’s 1974 Countach, LamborghiniÂ’s flagship has largely been an acolyte of the Porsche 911 school of evolutionary design. Nevertheless, every one of the AventadorÂ’s angled, unsparing lines acts like an arrestor cable on passers-by. Long, low, wide in front, and swelling to a carrier-esque beam in the rear, the Aventador is the kind of ruthless transport weÂ’d expect from Cyberdyne Systems or the Weyland-Yutani Corporation – no trace of weakness in it, nor any compassion. Breathtaking instead of beautiful. The only respite from the malice of the test car was in its color, Blu Cephus Pearl. A vivacious neighbor, as soon as she saw the car, christened it Deja Blue. That took some edge off the menace. Almost everything in the cabin is tailored excellence. The look and feel of the stitched leather, the seats, the craftsmanship, all could have come from an Italian atelier – and essentially, for any whoÂ’ve seen the leather shop at SantÂ’Agata Bolognese, they did. The compact cabin provides room for 6-footers; the seats provide continent-crossing comfort.

Ferdinand Piech (1937-2019): The man who made VW global

Towering among his peers, a giant of the auto industry died Sunday night in Rosenheim/Upper Bavaria, Germany. Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Volkswagen in the 1930s, was the most polarizing automotive executive of our times. And one who brought automotive technology further than anyone else. Ferdinand Porsche had a son, Ferdinand (called "Ferry"), and a daughter, Louise, who married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech. They gave birth to Ferdinand Piech, and his proximity to two Alfa Romeo sports cars — Porsche had done some work for the Italians — and the "Berlin-Rome-Berlin" race car, developed by Porsche himself, gave birth to Piech's interest in cars. After his teachers in Salzburg told his mother he was "too stupid" to attend school there, Piech, who was open about his dyslexia, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. He subsequently moved on to Porsche, where he fixed issues with the 904 race car and did major work on the 911. But his greatest project was the Le Mans-winning 917 race car, developed at breathtaking financial cost. It annihilated the competition, but the family had had enough: Amid growing tension among the four cousins working at Porsche and Piech's uncle Ferry, the family decided to pull every family member, except for Ferry, out of their management positions. Piech started his own consultancy business, where he designed the famous five-cylinder diesel for Mercedes-Benz, but quickly moved on to Audi, first as an engineer and then as CEO, where he set out to transform the dull brand into a technology leader. Piech killed the Wankel engine and hammered out a number of ambitious and sophisticated technologies. Among them: The five-cylinder gasoline engine; Quattro all-wheel drive and Audi's fantastic rally successes; and turbocharging, developed with Fritz Indra, whom Piech recruited from Alpina. The Audi 100/200/5000 became the world's fastest production sedan, thanks to their superior aerodynamics. Piech also launched zinc-coated bodies for longevity — and gave diesel technology a decisive boost with the advent of the fast and ultra-efficient TDI engines. Less known: Piech also decided to put larger gas tanks into cars. Customers loved it. Piech's first-generation Audi V8 was met with derision by competitors; it was too obviously based on the 200/5000.