2003 Lamborghini Murcielago Base Coupe 2-door 6.2l on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini battery electric 2+2 GT coming by 2027

Lamborghini's Sant'Agata factory hasn't put out a production four-seater car since the last Espada blasted down the road in 1978. We haven't stopped hearing rumors about another four-seat Lamborghini car since the Italians introduced the four-door Estoque at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The subject's been especially warm over the last three years, ever since former Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali told Automotive News in 2018 there was a five- to seven-year window to add a fourth vehicle to the lineup. Matters have firmed up since then, current CEO Stephan Winkelmann telling Autocar a few months ago that this fourth vehicle is in the initial stages of development and will hit the market "in the second half of the decade." Winkelmann said the company hasn't decided on the platform or the bodystyle — those answers come next year — but he favors a 2+2 GT. AutoNews' crystal ball gazing into future product says we'll get a battery-electric version of just that between 2025 and 2027. Porsche and Audi will contribute to the project, which is only natural seeing as they're the Volkswagen Group's mainstream performance brands leading the way with spicy EV sedans. With the changes that have happened at VW, the timeline means that the Italian brand might not adopt the Porsche Taycan's J1 platform nor the Audi A6 E-Tron's PPE platform, but could get the highly modular Scalable Systems Platform that debuts under the Audi Artemis in 2026. The SSP bones combine aspects of Volkswagen's mainstream MEB and performance-oriented PPE electric architectures. The conglomerate expects 80% of Group products to use it, counting some 40 million unit sales across all brands over the platform's lifetime. The only details we have about what's coming concern the EV's mission statement. Winkelmann said he told designers "this car has to be recognized as something different to what weÂ’ve done before" ... "[showing] a new way of designing cars" while still clearly being a Lamborghini. We would just like Lamborghini to remember that it has the Asterion (pictured) saved on a hard drive somewhere. Hint. As a middle child between the scarab-looking screamers the bull brand is most known for and the Urus SUV the brand makes the most money on, the electric GT is expected to sell annual volumes somewhere in between those siblings. As for capability, in 2019, company head of R&D Maurizio Reggiani mentioned 350 miles of range as a suitable figure.

Lamborghini weighs first factory-backed Le Mans entry

Lamborghini could expand its racing program by competing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The Italian company has never been able to justify funding the development of an LMP1-spec prototype from the ground up, but the hypercar category the WEC will launch in 2020 makes competing in high-profile races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans much more affordable. The new class created to pick up where LMP1 will leave off has piqued the interest of Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali. He told British magazine Autocar that his team is taking a careful look at the regulations, and company officials will decide whether to go racing by the end of 2019. The hypercar category will replace LMP1 during the 2020/2021 season, and its guidelines call for racers that look like production models. They'll need to weigh under 2,160 pounds, and they'll be allowed to use active aerodynamic technology, which Lamborghini already uses on production models like the Aventador SVJ, the Huracan Performante, and the Huracan Evo. Domenicali hinted a car similar to the one-off, Aventador-based SC18 (pictured) introduced in late 2018 could take Lamborghini racing. It shows the company has "a base for what could be an interesting approach," he told Autocar. Created at the request of a customer, the SC18 delivers 770 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque thanks to the Aventador's naturally-aspirated, 6.5-liter V12. If Lamborghini chooses to race, it will need to fend off competition from Aston Martin and Toyota, among others. Aston Martin confirmed it will compete in the hypercar category with an evolution of the 1,160-horsepower Valkyrie, while Toyota is busily transforming the Super Sport concept into a hypercar-spec racer. Unverified reports suggest McLaren and Ferrari could also join the fray sooner or later. While Lamborghini's history isn't rooted in racing, and it has never operated a full, factory-backed WEC program, its cars have competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other endurance events on several occasions. Die-hard fans will remember the Murcielago R-GT that raced at Le Mans between 2006 and 2009. It was more show than go, and it finished near (or at) the bottom of the pack. Auto News Motorsports Lamborghini Le Mans lmp1

These were our favorite cars of 2022

Favorite cars is different than best cars. The idea of "best" can speak to value and overall competitiveness in a given vehicle segment. There's lots of objectivity involved and to do a "best" list right, one really must be very thorough and as scientific as possible. This is not that list. This is about our favorites, so objectivity be damned. If we liked a Challenger Hellcat because it made loud noises or a Honda Odyssey because it made for a particularly special family vacation, fair game. These were the cars that most spoke to our collection of editors and the ones that stayed in our minds and hung in our hearts long after they left our driveway. — Senior Editor James Riswick 2022 GMC Hummer EV Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder: I didn't particularly expect to like the new Hummer. I wasn't a fan of the Hummer H2 or H3, so I wasn't automatically enthusiastic about this electric reboot. Fast EVs aren't hard to come by — and, in fact, may be too easy to come by — so its performance specs weren't enough to win me over. Despite videos to the contrary, pickups aren't my favorite vehicular format. And its excessive size and weight turned me off ... until I finally got behind the wheel.  This thing is wildly entertaining to drive. Watts to Freedom launch control is a neat party trick, sure, but the novelty wears off quickly. The novelty of Crab Walk, however, has staying power. The rear-wheel steering makes this behemoth feel much smaller than it is — the maneuverability is incredible, and useful. The air suspension provides tons of clearance, including a ridiculously high-riding Extract mode. I can't wait for lesser versions of the Hummer to make their way to market. Give me less power (for less money), but keep the off-road tricks onboard, and I'll be a happy camper. Senior Editor, Consumer, Jeremy Korzeniewski: If I could afford to put one of these in my driveway, I would. Sadly, I can't, so I won't (What's that, Janet? I got the lyric wrong?). Still, I love the dumb thing. Thankfully, I have another choice down below. 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Associate Editor Byron Hurd: Yeah, duh, Porsches are good. But there's good, and then there's GT3. This is the feeling every performance-oriented RWD tuner is trying to replicate. This is hard, precise, surgical and immensely satisfying. To begin to explore this car on a public road is by itself an admission that you believe yourself to be above the rules as they apply to normal drivers.