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Bertone goes bust

The famous Italian coachbuilder and designer Bertone may be on its deathbed. The company that penned the beautiful shape of the Lamborghini Miura has been facing financial hardships for months, and Autocar is reporting that the Turin, Italy firm has just declared bankruptcy. The last we heard from Bertone, it was showing the Jet 2+2 station wagon based on an Aston Martin Rapide at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The Turin-based carrozzeria became famous for its wild designs like the BMW Spicup concept, Lancia Stratos and the initial shape of the Lamborghini Countach. In recent years, it had been limited to creating mostly one-off vehicles. The company has slowly been shrinking recently. It sold its small factory to Fiat a few years go and let go of 165 employees and 10 interns in December. Bertone has been shopping itself in hopes of finding a new owner. According to PistonHeads, even with the money problems, the business generated 20-million euros ($27.9 million) in revenue in 2013 and has been working on projects in China. A Turkish firm was rumored to be interested in buying it for just $2.7 million, and GT Spirit claims that there are also seven Italian companies potentially interested in purchasing it. Bertone has a long and proud automotive history, and it wouldn't be surprising if it were bought just for the value of the brand – perhaps we haven't seen the last of its stylized B logo. Featured Gallery Bertone Jet 2+2: Geneva 2013 View 10 Photos News Source: Autocar via Pistonheads, GTSpiritImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Design/Style Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing BMW Lamborghini Lancia Concept Cars Luxury Special and Limited Editions Performance Classics bertone lamborghini miura Lamborghini Countach

1996 Zagato Raptor concept is a lighter Lamborghini Diablo VT and is up for sale

It's hard to out-do Lamborghini when it comes to design, but when Lamborghini partnered with Zagato on a concept car, that's just what happened. The 1996 Zagato Raptor concept was the result, and it was even planned for production. That never happened, but you'll be able to own the lone concept as it's going to be sold by RM Sotheby's. According to the auction house, the Zagato Raptor was developed as a stop-gap model between the Diablo and its proposed successor, the Canto, another stillborn design that gave way to the Murcielago. The car is distinctly more rounded than the wedge-like Diablo, but it's no less wild with its wide haunches, sci-fi taillight bar, and aggressive roof scoop. The party piece, though is the huge tilting canopy for access, which also featured a removable targa roof. The design process and its materials were impressive, too, as the car was completely designed on computers, and went from idea to complete car in just four months. The entire body was made of carbon fiber, too, and that made it about 660 pounds lighter than a Diablo. Some of the weight savings also came from the fact that it lacked the traction control and ABS that came with a Diablo. The Raptor naturally was quick as it shared the Diablo's 6.7-liter V12 and the Diablo VT's 6-speed manual gearbox and all-wheel drive. It could hit 60 mph in under 4 seconds. The car has led a fairly reclusive life following its debut at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show. It's last public appearance was at the Pebble Beach Concours back in 2008. As such, RM Sotheby's recommends a thorough mechanical refresh before doing much driving with it. As a show car, don't expect it to register it for street use, but we're sure it would be fun on private courses. The auction house didn't provide any pre-sale price estimate, though it probably won't go cheap. If you're interested, it will cross the block at the RM Sotheby's Abu Dhabi auction on November 30.

Audi: record profit as 'biggest product initiative' in its history gets underway

Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann   Even as the Audi Group (VOW.DE), VW’s luxury division, is in the midst of a huge EV transformation it still needs to perform where it counts — the bottom line. And so it is doing just that.  On Thursday the Audi Group - which is dominated volume-wise by Audi, but also includes Bentley, Lamborghini, and Ducati - posted record revenue and operating profit in 2022. That shouldnÂ’t be a surprise given what the industry has been seeing at the highest end of the market - record performances despite macroeconomic jitters across the globe. But that it's happening as the group is noteworthy.  “We are on the verge of the biggest product initiative in our history,” Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann said at a news conference earlier on Thursday. “By 2025, we will have launched around 20 new models, more than 10 of which will be all-electric. We have set the course to go 100% electric. By 2027, we seek to offer an all-electric vehicle in each core segment.”   This is all part of Audi GroupÂ’s Vorsprung 2030 plan, which seeks to have all of the groupÂ’s new models be electric by 2026 — and to end traditional gas-powered engine production by 2033. To that end, the group saw EV deliveries jump 44% (in 2022) compared to 2021 to over 118,000 vehicles, with the share of EVs rising to 7.2% from 4.8% in the prior year. Audi is also launching its first EV using the PPE (premium platform electric), which was developed together with Porsche. That EV, the Audi Q6 e-tron, will be unveiled later this year. (Past Audi EVs shared corporate parent VWÂ’s electric platform.) “With the Audi Q6 e-tron, e-mobility is coming from Ingolstadt (Audi HQ) for the first time,” Duesmann said in a statement. “To this end, weÂ’re also building a dedicated battery assembly facility on site. This will enable us to retain important know-how here in Germany and train our employees in future fields.” AudiÂ’s German rivals of course are also leaning in hard on their EV transformations. That makes it all the more important that Audi get its EV strategy right—and launched in a timely manner.