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Pope's Lamborghini Huracan raises over $850,000 for charity at auction

Last November, Lamborghini gave Pope Francis a Huracan RWD customized in the white and gold colors of Vatican City. Unsurprisingly, Pope Francis announced it would be auctioned for charity, and that auction occurred this past week. The car rolled across the block of an RM Sotheby's auction and brought in 715,000 euros, which at current exchange rates is about $857,000. View 6 Photos That's a fairly impressive price considering that an entry-level Huracan starts at right around $200,000. Of course, regular versions don't come with such a prestigious previous owner. An owner who signed and blessed it. Plus all the money is going to charity. Actually, make that charities. The money will be split among a group rebuilding villages in Nineveh Plain in Iraq, an organization that helps abused and trafficked women, and two organizations that help women and children in central Africa. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

eBay Find of the Day: 1992 Minardi-Lamborghini M191L

Think of Italian Formula One teams and Ferrari is first and foremost to come to mind. But the Prancing Horse team is not the only game in town. What is today known as Scuderia Toro Rosso was once, and for two decades, known as Minardi. And for one (unfortunately unsuccessful) season, it was powered by Lamborghini.
That season was 1992, when Christian Fittipaldi (Emerson's nephew) drove for the team, substituted by Alex Zanardi for a few races and teamed up with Gianni Morbidelli - the Italian driver who just took the Superstars championship this past weekend.
Alongside the Modena team it supplied the year before (to even less success), the Minardi partnership was one of only two Italian teams which the F1 division established at Lamborghini under Chrysler ownership would motivate power. It yielded a sixth-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix as its best result, but the coupling of an Italian engine in an Italian chassis is what makes it stand out in history. Valentino Balboni drove it for demonstration events at Road Atlanta and Sebring, and now that car is up for auction on eBay Motors.

Volkswagen Group's Vision 2030 strategy could bring revolution to the brands

One would expect a corporate plan called "Vision 2030," looking 11 years ahead through wildly tumultuous times, to involve great change and numerous forks in numerous roads. According to Automobile's breakdown of Volkswagen's path forward, though, the plans contain some lurid potential surprises. The ultimate aim is return on investment, and that means ruthless reorganization of a conglomerate with eight primary car brands, two car sub-brands, and Ducati motorcycles. The first two Vision 2030 cornerstones Automobile mentions are near boilerplate: Production network restructuring, and "streamlining of key technologies." The latter two are the ones that could upend what we know as the Volkswagen Group: focusing on the Group's core brands — meaning Audi, Porsche, and VW — and transitioning to EVs, autonomy, and other mobility solutions. Based on the report, a quote from Audi's CTO referring to the Audi brand could cover how the Group plans to handle all of its brands: "We need to find a sustainable solution for the indefinite transition period until EVs eventually take over." The boutique divisions adjacent to carmaking, Ducati and Italdesign, look likely to be spun off. For the halo car brands — Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini — apparently shareholders want double-digit returns on investment, and the trio doesn't have long to hit the target. One eyebrow raiser is when the report states, "Bugatti is tipped to be gifted to [ex-VW Group Chairman] Ferdinand Piech." Piech fathered the Veyron during his tenure at VW, and it was thought he commissioned the La Voiture Noire, but he's lately stepped so far back from VW that he sold all his shares in the Group. Automobile quoted a senior strategist as saying of money-losing Bentley, "Why invest on a backward-looking enterprise when you can support a trendsetter? A proud history and excellent craftmanship alone don't cut it anymore." We guess no one at Ferrari, McLaren, or even Porsche got that memo. Bentley is reportedly close to being put in time out, and if brand CEO Adrian Hallmark can't right the Crewe ship, the hush-hush Plan B is to prop the Flying B up enough to lure a buyer. As for Lamborghini, caught between two masters at Audi and Porsche, even record-breaking numbers at the Italian supercar maker barely staved off sacrilege. It's said that VW brand CEO Herbert Diess considered putting a 5.0-liter Porsche V8 into the Aventador successor.