2004 Lamborghini Gallardo 2dr Coupe on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Volkswagen posts quarterly profit despite drop in sales

Volkswagen returned to profit in the third quarter as surging Chinese demand for luxury cars helped offset a 1.1% drop in vehicle deliveries due to the pandemic, sending its shares as much as 3% higher on Thursday. The German automaker's return to the black comes amid spiking coronavirus cases in Europe that led governments in France and Germany to order their countries back into strict national lockdowns on Wednesday. "The coronavirus remains a central problem," Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said in a conference call with reporters. "This situation now is anything but relaxed." But Witter said the group expected the economic recovery to continue and did "not anticipate any nationwide lockdowns in larger markets." Witter said the takeover of U.S. truck maker Navistar International by Volkswagen's trucking unit Traton was an important acquisition, but the "current economic climate will not make this easy." Volkswagen reiterated it expects to post a profit for the full year, saying its business "recovered noticeably" in the third quarter as sales in China of premium vehicles, including Audi and Porsche sports cars, rose 3%. The quarterly performance was also aided by a series of cost-cutting measures launched earlier this year. Volkswagen said its net liquidity rose to 24.8 billion euros from 18.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Excluding one-time items, third-quarter operating profit was 3.2 billion euros ($3.8 billion), down from 4.8 billion euros a year earlier, but up from a second quarter loss of 1.7 billion. In a note to clients, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois described the results as a "solid performance with strong cash, but relatively muted in the context of the (auto) sector recovery." Last week, German rival Daimler reported a record 24% jump in Chinese demand for its Mercedes-Benz cars, boosting its margins in the third quarter. Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group both also posted solid results this week. Witter said Volkswagen could not say for sure whether it would meet EU CO2 emissions targets this year, adding "it will be a tough race." At 1030 GMT, Volkswagen shares were up 2.9% at 129.20 euros. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Audi Bentley Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche Volkswagen

Lamborghini Hurac?n configurator is ready for your Italian fantasies

The Lamborghini Huracán might be one of the most anticipated cars to come out of Sant'Agata since the launch of its predecessor, the Gallardo. While we're stuck waiting to drive the V10-powered, all-wheel-drive Huracán, we can at least play around with the all-new configurator, which has just gone live.
Now, in terms of other online builders, the Huracán's is rather light. Tweakable features are limited to exterior and interior colors, wheel designs, caliper colors and a few other smaller items. There are also no prices listed, although this is hardly unusual for exotic configurators (Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari and Rolls-Royce all leave pricing info off their configurators).
Despite being rather low on stuff to do, designing one's personalized Lamborghini will always remain a pleasant means of whiling away a slow day at work. Hop over to Lamborghini's website and have a look.

Wild one-off Lamborghini Sogna for sale at $3M [w/videos]

The Lamborghini Countach was the dream car for many teens and pre-teens in the 1980s, but at least one Japanese man thought there was room for improvement. As the story goes, Ryoji Yamazaki had a dream of a supercar as a 13-year-old, and at the age of 41, he used his design studio, Art & Tech, to create the Sogna in 1991.
Yamazaki unveiled the Sogna at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show as a rebodied Countach with intentions of selling it in limited production, but thankfully - or sadly, depending how you look at it - the $1.6 million (1991 price) coachbuilt supercar never made it into production. The Geneva show car was a rolling chassis, and the only other example that was produced was a fully operational version, shown above, which was unveiled at the 1994 Essen Motor Show. This car from Essen is now listed for sale on James Edition for 2.38 million euros, or around $3.25 million USD.
With its oddball styling and kiwi green paint, the Sogna was likely doomed from the start, but it still boasts the Countach's full powertrain including the 448-horsepower, 5.2-liter V12 and a claimed top speed of 186 miles per hour. Check out more images of the 1994 Sogna at James Edition and Enmann, and we also found a couple videos, which are posted below, of the car's early development.