2005 Lamborghini Gallardo Base Coupe 2-door 5.0l Front Lift on 2040-cars

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Watch VW Group Night kick off the Frankfurt festivities

The Frankfurt Motor Show is Volkswagen's home affair. As a result, the whole of the automaker group makes a big splash, even before the show doors open. We'll be live from the Frankfurt floor starting early tomorrow morning, but tonight we're posted up in the stands at the always-entertaining Volkswagen Group Night. To give you a taste of what it's like to be there, we're going to be shooting some man-on-the-scenes video as the night progresses. Below you'll find videos of all the best that VW Group brands – Audi, Lamborghini, VW, the lot – have to offer, as quick as we can upload them. So, enjoy the Short Cut Videos you see here. And stay tuned as we add more to the tally, below. And, of course, be sure to check in on Autoblog early and often tomorrow, when we bring you official debuts of new production vehicles and concept cars, a ton of new video content, live image galleries, and lots more.Seat Leon Cross Sport Bentley Bentayga Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder Volkswagen Multivan PanAmerican Edition Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo Concept Audi E-Tron Quattro Concept Audi A4 Ducati Monster 1200 R Volkswagen Tiguan Skoda Superb Combi Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe and Cabrio Volkswagen Tiguan GTE Porsche Mission E Concept Volkswagen Group Night Finale Green Frankfurt Motor Show Audi Bentley Bugatti Lamborghini Volkswagen SEAT Skoda Videos Original Video Frankfurt 2015

As VW electrifies, it questions the role of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen needs to change to stay relevant in the electric and digital vehicle era and will announce "important steps" to that end before the close of the year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday. "Volkswagen needs to change: From a collection of valuable brands and fascinating combustion-engine products that thrill customers with superb engineering — to a digital company that reliably operates millions of mobility devices worldwide," Diess told shareholders at the company's virtual general meeting. Vehicles need to stay in contact with customers, offer new services and comfort functions on a weekly or even daily basis, he said. "We will take further important steps to set the course for this in the rest of 2020," Diess said. Senior executives told Reuters the company is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play as the company increasingly focuses on electric, digital and autonomous vehicles. Volkswagen, which also owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, is looking at whether it has the resources to accelerate development of electric platforms for smaller brands at a time it is investing billions to transform its more mainstream cars. Asked whether Ducati, which is known for making noisy combustion-engined motorbikes, has an electric future, Markus Duesmann, who oversees research and development for the group, said: "It will not take long until we see an electric Ducati." Whether Ducati, which is a medium-sized premium motorbike brand, would offer an electric variant, depends on whether a bike could offer range comparable to a combustion-engined variant, Duesmann said. Advances are being made in battery technology which could make this possible, he added. Separately Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer, in response to a question about whether a sale of Lamborghini is planned, said Volkswagen does not comment on speculation about potential divestments. Lamborghini's Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali this week announced his departure from the sports car maker to take on a new job as president of Formula One. VW needs cash Volkswagen is reviewing the future of these three high-performance brands as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars, senior executives told Reuters.

This is the fully uncovered Lamborghini Huracan Performante

We already knew that the Lamborghini Huracan Performante is absurdly quick at the Nurburgring, where the company claims it lapped the track faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder. Now Lamborghini has released specifications and photos of the car. It seems a little more power, active aerodynamics, and other fine tuning turned the Huracan into a track monster. Immediately apparent from the outside are the new aerodynamic devices and molded carbon fiber pieces. The latter include the hood over the engine, front and rear spoilers, the rear bumper, and the rear diffuser. Together, they help the Performante lose about 88 pounds compared to the standard Huracan. The front and rear spoilers also have fancy electrically-actuated flaps to adjust aerodynamics. At the front, a pair of flaps rest on the top side of the front spoiler, and at the back, two air channels can be opened or closed to change airflow at the rear wing, optimize downforce, or reduce drag. The rear flaps can also be opened and closed separately for the left and right. According to Lamborghini, they can be used to increase downforce on one side of the car to counteract the affects of load transfer in corners. For example, if the car was turning left, and the body began rolling to the right, the flaps could be set so that downforce increases on the left, keeping the car flatter in the corner. Lamborghini has also improved almost every other mechanical part of the car. The V10 now makes 640 horsepower and about 443 lb-ft of torque. The suspension has stiffer springs and anti-roll bars combined with either the standard, conventional shocks, or optional magnetorheological shocks. Power is sent to all four wheels, all four of which are forged and available in two different designs. They're shod in the buyers choice of Pirelli P Zero Corsas, or barely street-legal Trofeo Rs. Altogether, these changes allow the Performante to reach 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and hit a top speed of about 202 mph. Finally, this Huracan Performante is appropriately wild looking. The giant wing, massive exhaust tips, and Italian colors along the door all make this Lamborghini visually outlandish. The interior also receives exposed molded carbon fiber throughout to make sure its occupants never forget this is a fast, hardcore Lambo. It should also help justify the Performante's $274,390 pricetag, if the 'Ring time isn't enough. The first cars will arrive to customers this summer. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.