Lamborghini 1900, page #29

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Why Italians are no longer buying supercars

Italy is the wound that continues to drain blood from the body financial of Italian supercar and sports car makers. The wound was opened by the country's various financial police who decided to get serious about superyacht-owning and supercar-driving tax cheats a few years ago, by noting their registrations and checking their incomes. When it was found that a rather high percentage of exotic toy owners had claimed a rather low annual income - certain business owners were found to be declaring less income than their employees - the owners began dumping their cars and prospective buyers declined to buy.
Car and Driver has a piece on how the initiative is hitting the home market the hardest. Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide in 2010, 1,602 cars in 2011 and 2,083 cars in 2012 - an excellent surge in just two years. In Italy, however, it's all about the ebb: in 2010, the year that Italian police began scouring harbors, Lamborghini sold 96 cars in Italy, the next year it sold 72, last year it sold just 60. The declines for Maserati and Ferrari are even more pronounced.
Head over to CD for the full story and the numbers. What might be most incredible isn't the cause and effect, but where the blame is being placed. A year ago the chairman of Italy's Federauto accused the government of "terrorizing potential clients," this year Luca di Montezemolo says what's happening has created "a hostile environment for ­luxury goods." Life at the top, it ain't easy.

'Born of a Blue Sky' brings the Amelia Island Concours to you

The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance has more clout every year and is getting a reputation as Pebble Beach minus the madness. Held in March this year, it celebrated Ducati and the 50-year anniversaries of Lamborghini, the Corvette Sting Ray, Porsche 911 and the Ford GT40.
Justin Lapriore was there, and seemingly everywhere, getting footage of the various wares on display on the lawns and the sand and the runway. The resulting video, Born of a Blue Sky, is a 16-minute survey of some of the finer sights and plenty of engine sounds. Check it out below.

2013 Lamborghini Aventador LP720-4 50 Anniversario is indeed worth celebrating

Here is the Giallo Maggio candle that carries the flame of Lamborghini's 50th anniversary: the
Aventador LP720-4 50 Anniversario Edition. There will be just 100 of them produced, each one in the buttery hue that has been the most popular color among the Lamborghini palette since the Miura arrived in 1966.
This limited-edition Aventador gets 20 more horsepower than the standard car for a total of 720 horses, and there's a new aerodynamics package to keep all of them planted on the ground. Inside, there's new leather in colors tied to the Bolognese home of Lamborghini: Terra Emilia brown or Giallo Quercus yellow, and black. A new diamond type of stitching also sets it apart from any other Aventador out there.

Range-topping 800-hp Lamborghini Aventador SV hits the 'Ring

A couple of years ago, rumors were circulating about a possible high(er)-performance version of the Lamborghini Aventador, and our spy photographers have just captured what appears to be a prototype of this new supercar testing at the Nürburgring. Supposedly called the Aventador SV (for Super Veloce), this even-more-hardcore version of Lamborghini's range-topper could boast as much as 800 horsepower. Yowza.
As for the car you see here, our spies point out new center-lock wheels wrapped in ultra-thin high-performance tires that hide revised brake calipers mounted in a different position than on the normal Aventador. Up front, there's a new aerodynamic piece that makes for an even lower air splitter, and around back, an extra piece of trim (often referred to as a Gurney flap) has been added to the spoiler to provide enhanced downforce.
We don't imagine there's much in the way of weight to shed from the Aventador's carbon fiber monocoque chassis, so this SV version will likely focus more on better suspension tuning, improved aero and a 80-100 more horsepower to set it apart from the rest of the range. Expect more details to arrive around the time of the Frankfurt Motor Show this fall.

Lamborghini Aventador LP 720-4 50 Anniversario is one helluva birthday present

While most 50th birthday parties include wacky and at least somewhat offensive gag gifts, Lamborghini will be celebrating its first 50 years with some incredibly exciting machines. Aside from the Veneno, the Italian automaker will also commemorate its first half century with new versions of the Aventador and Gallardo, which will both be on display at the Shanghai Motor Show.
The special Gallardo LP 560-2 50 Anniversario is a Gallardo with a unique paint scheme, a transparent engine cover and a few carbon fiber parts from the Superleggera, but the Aventador LP 720-4 50 Anniversario is where you'll find the true party favor. Confirming what leaked out earlier in the week, the Aventador LP 720-4 50 Anniversario squeezes an extra 20 horsepower from its 6.5-liter V12 compared to the "base" Aventador LP 700-4, which is accomplished with different engine tuning.
If the Aventador wasn't already flashy enough for you, the 50 Anniversario gets painted up in a two-tone paint job with a bright yellow Giallo Maggio exterior color over matte black for the lower portions of the car, along with gloss-black wheels. Lamborghini chose yellow because it has been the most popular color for its cars since the Miura. As for unique styling elements, the Aventador LP 720-4 50 Anniversario gets a revised front end with an extended splitter and bigger air intakes, and the rear fascia has been completely redesigned for better aerodynamics and engine ventilation.

Lamborghini Aventador LP720-4 50 Anniversario Edition leaked

As part of the celebration of its 50th anniversary, Lamborghini has created a new version of its Aventador called the LP720-4 50 Anniversario Edition, and images of the black and yellow machine have leaked out online ahead of its official unveiling at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Looking past the bumblebee-spec paint, this Lambo will boast 710 horsepower - or 720 metric horses, which explains its mouthful of a moniker - to go along with an estimated 0 to 62 time of just 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 217 miles per hour. All that speed will be managed by a special carbon fiber aero kit that is reportedly 50 percent more efficient than before.
A report from Carscoops indicate that the Italian automaker will build 100 examples of this anniversary-edition Aventador, though how many of them will be painted in this arresting Giallo Maggio color we don't know. We expect all the details will be flowing forth soon enough, but until then, content yourselves with the high-resolution image gallery above.

Tamara Ecclestone's Lamborghini has gone missing

A Lamborghini Aventador owned by socialite Tamara Ecclestone has disappeared from a garage in London where it was being serviced. The daughter of billionaire Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone reportedly purchased the car a couple of years ago from a dealer named Ziad Shawadi when she was dating businessman Omar Khyami. The supercar was put under Omar's name to secure a resident's parking permit, but it was registered to her Chelsea, London, address.
Tamara tried to sell the Lamborghini last summer after the couple split, but learned that her boyfriend had used the $400,000 exotic as collateral on a loan - and that set off a legal battle due for a hearing later this year.
But now the car has disappeared, and the culprits are alleged to be men working for Shawadi who have apparently repossessed it as a result of the outstanding loan. Ecclestone filed a complaint at a Notting Hill police station, but the authorities have said they won't be moving on this one. There has been no word on the fate of the parking permit.

Lamborghini Pregunta Paris concept offered at $2.1M [w/video]

When the Lamborghini Veneno was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show, there were those who connected dots from it to the Lamborghini Pregunta concept from 1998, and also to the Pagani Zonda that arrived one year later. Near the end of the turmoil that was Lamborghini's ownership through the mid-nineties, an order was placed with the French Carrosserie Heuliez for a one-off concept car that was "new, original and impossible to confuse with any other car's shapes," that would be built on a Diablo chassis. The result was the Pregunta.
It was an aerospace-influenced supercar with carbon fiber bodywork, a 530-horsepower V12 and a claimed 207-mile-per-hour top speed. It employed rear-wheel drive instead of the Diablo's all-wheel drive, was coated in the same paint used on the French military's Dassault Rafale fighter jet and had fiber optic lighting, rear-view cameras and a GPS system. It was shown to the world at the 1998 Paris Motor Show, and again at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show.
Thought to be the last concept built on a Lamborghini body before Audi bought the company in 1998, AutoDrome, a French specialist in vintage exotics, has the Pregunta for sale for 1.6 million euros ($2.1M US). You can watch it hit the runway with a Rafale in the video below, then give AutoDrome a call if you're interested.

Dubai police welcome Lamborghini Aventador cop car

There is a long history of law enforcement adding supercars to their police cruiser fleets. The latest comes from a likely place, Dubai, where one-upping the rest of the world in conspicuous consumption has become a national point of pride.
The Dubai police force announced yesterday that they've added a Lamborghini Aventador to their fleet, the Italian supercar capping a broader upgrade to their selection of cruisers that also reportedly includes new examples of the Chevy Camaro.
The 700-horsepower Aventador has a starting price in the US of nearly $400,000 and can reach speeds up to 217 miles per hour. Reports, however, say that the Dubai police force won't be using the car's 0-60 performance of 3.9 seconds to catch any crooks, but rather that the supercar will be used in tourist areas to impress foreign travelers.

Lamborghini Miura SV burns to the ground in London

If there's one thing Italian supercars seemingly love more than moving quickly, it's being on fire. That even applies to iconic machinery like the Lamborghini Miura SV, one of our personal favorite exotics of all time. One such Lamborghini owner just witness their machine go all flambé during a photo shoot in London. Details are scarce at the moment, but it looks as if something went awry in the engine bay.
You can watch the disaster in the video below, but just make sure your stomach is well prepared for the nauseating sight. Nothing's worse than watching $700,000-worth of gorgeous collector car go up in smoke.