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VW makes $23K on every Porsche sold, more than Bentley or Lamborghini

It's a good time to be in the luxury car business. In Volkswagen Group's financial report for the 2013 fiscal year, it is revealed that that Porsche enjoyed an operating margin of 18 percent. That means the Stuttgart brand made on average about $23,200 per car sold, according to BusinessWeek. Bentley wasn't far behind, and Audi (which was combined with Lamborghini) posted a 10.1 percent margin. This compares to only around 2.9 percent for the Volkswagen brand.
"Luxury brands are on fire," said Dave Sullivan, an industry analyst at AutoPacific. He said that the average profit margin is between six and eight percent. Brands like Porsche and Bentley have the benefit of competing in rarefied markets. Buyers looking at one their vehicles have fewer models to shop against and don't care as much about price. They can also charge more for options, which further boosts income, according to BusinessWeek.
In a way, we should be more impressed by the continued success from Audi. Its models generally have direct competitors in every segment from the other premium automakers. Plus, their buyers aren't the captains of industry who are shopping for a Bentley. Still, the Four Rings is leading rivals in sales so far this year.

Lamborghini outlines electrification strategy, announces first EV

Lamborghini, one of the industry's fiercest defenders of the naturally-aspirated engine, is planning to electrify its range during the 2020s. It detailed the path it will follow to electrification, and it announced the road leads to an EV. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann named the three-part electrification strategy Direzione Cor Tauri, which is Italian for "towards Cor Tauri," a reference to the brightest star in Taurus — the constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere, not the Ford built over six generations. Significantly, he stressed that adding batteries and electric motors to a supercar's driveline will not dilute the hardcore performance that Lamborghini's image is built on. The first phase of the plan calls for celebrating the non-electrified internal combustion engine. Lamborghini wants to send it off with a bang, if you'll pardon the pun. It will flex its engineering muscles by unveiling two models powered by a naturally-aspirated V12 in 2021. Our crystal ball tells us at least one will be the long-awaited successor to the Aventador S. Act fast if you want one, because it undoubtedly won't stick around for as long as its predecessor. Lamborghini's first production-bound hybrid, the Sian (pictured as a roadster), arrived in 2019 as a sold-out, limited-edition model with a V12-electric powertrain. Some of the lessons learned during the project will permeate a series-produced hybrid model that's expected to make its debut in 2023. Advances in carbon fiber solutions and new technologies will help engineers offset the weight added by the battery pack. We don't know what kind of system the model will use, or where it will slot in the firm's portfolio. It might be a replacement for the Huracan Evo, however. The entire Lamborghini range will be electrified to some degree by 2024. Reaching this ambitious goal will require investing 1.5 billion euros (around $1.8 billion at the current conversion rate) to develop powertrains and other technologies. That's the largest cash injection the firm has ever received since its inception in 1963. Finally, the first series-produced electric Lamborghini will arrive at some point during the second half of the decade. It will arrive as a fourth model, meaning it likely will not be merely a battery-powered version of an existing car, but it's far too early to provide details like its name, the segment it will compete in, and the technology it will use.

Lamborghini Veneno makes North American debut

Love it or hate it, the Lamborghini Veneno is an incredible - and incredibly rare - car. With Lamborghini committed to building just three examples of the Veneno, it's very likely that we'll only ever see this pre-production show car in our lifetime.
That doesn't mean we'll be any less excited about laying our eyes on this fine example of the world's most-expensive production car, which we recently did as the Veneno made its US debut at the Quail Motorsports Gathering. Now that we see it again, it might look even better under the California sun than it did the last time we saw it under the bright lights of the Geneva Motor Show. Now, if we could just find the keys...