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One-off Lamborghini Revuelto Opera Unica took 435 hours to paint

Lamborghini turned the Revuelto, its new flagship model, into a one-off art car to celebrate its 60th birthday. Unveiled ahead of its public debut at the 2023 Art Basel show in Miami Beach, Florida, the 1,001-horsepower coupe named Opera Unica was designed in-house. Beyond commemorating 60 years of Lamborghini's V12-powered cars, the Opera Unica showcases what the brand's Ad Personam team is capable of. It was painted entirely by hand. The front end is finished in a color called Viola Pasifae, and the livery gradually fades into a shade of black called Nero Helene. That's just the base layer; Lamborghini then added blue, red, and orange accents to emphasize speed. Getting it perfect was more difficult than it might sound. Lamborghini notes that the livery required 76 hours of development and testing plus around 435 hours (that's over 18 days!) to apply. The finish touch is a 60th Anniversary logo on the hood that's only visible in the right light. That's just the exterior; the interior took 220 additional hours to complete. It's characterized by two-tone Nero Ade and Viola Acutus leather upholstery to echo the paint job's base layer and the 60th Anniversary logo embroidered into the seats and door panels. The color of the thread used matches the color of the brush strokes applied to the exterior. This color combination appears on the start button cover as well. "We wanted to create something purely artistic using brushes and a combination of colors, as if the Revuelto was a canvas. This is what fueled our inspiration for this special livery," summed up Mitja Borkert, the head of Lamborghini's design department, in a statement. It's business as usual under the body, meaning power for the Opera Unica comes from a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain built around a new, 6.5-liter V12. Crucially, the engine is naturally aspirated; Lamborghini resisted the urge to downsize and add turbos. The system also includes three electric motors and a 3.8-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. Its output checks in at 1,001 horsepower and 793 pound-feet of torque, which is enough for a manufacturer-claimed zero-to-62-mph time of 2.5 seconds and a top speed of over 217 mph. Lamborghini hasn't revealed what the future holds for the Opera Unica. It could end up in the company's museum in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy, or it might find its way into private hands. Either way, you'll know it when you see it: this is the kind of one-off car you can't miss.

Justin Bieber arrested for possible DUI, drag racing [w/video, UPDATE]

Pop star Justin Bieber was arrested early this morning in Miami Beach, FL with TMZ.com listing his charges as including driving under the influence, drag racing, resisting arrest and driving on an expired license. TMZ says that Bieber was stopped for street racing his Lamborghini Gallardo, then failing a field sobriety test, and is being charged with resisting arrest for "refusing to take his hands out of his pockets."
It's also being reported that Bieber was racing against rapper Khalil (also arrested) who seems to have been driving a Ferrari 16M Scuderia Spider (although it was mistakenly called a "red Lambo" in the article). There is no additional information about the arrest of either men, but TMZ has obtained eyewitness video, which is posted below, that shows Bieber in his Lamborghini surrounded by fans and then later shows the car stopped by police officers.
UPDATE: As it turns out, the cars in question didn't actually belong to either Bieber or Khalil. We just received an email that indicates that both the Ferrari and the Lamborghini involved in the incident were rentals. The president of Lou La Vie, an exotic car rental outfit in Miami, is claiming ownership of both vehicles, though didn't provide any other significant information regarding the case.

Lamborghini Huracan to get What3Words navigation

The Lamborghini Huracan will soon launch a novel navigation system that can take you to any point on the globe with incredible specificity. It relies on a geocoding system called What3Words that, as the name implies, uses a combination of just three words — rather than building numbers and street names — to describe locations. Here's how it works. The creators of What3Words divided the entire planet into 10 by 10 foot squares and randomly assigned three words to each one. There are 57 trillion squares in all, each with three words pulled from a pool of 40,000 in the English language. For example, the Washington Monument has a pretty confusing street address: 2 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20024. What3Words identifies that location as "congratulations, fingernails, desk". The idea is that those three words are much less prone to misinterpretation, especially by a computer or voice recognition system. Its level of granularity also has advantages if, say, you're trying to tell a friend where you're waiting at large concert venue. It can also get very precise in areas where there are no roads or buildings at all. In fact, the app helped rescuers locate a group of lost hikers in the U.K. To be fair, the system isn't exclusive to Lamborghini; the Huracan is just the first to roll out this technology in conjunction with Alexa's voice activated navigation, according to the New York Times. The Huracan will receive this functionality this year. For the record, the 2018 Mercedes A-Class was the first car to use What3Words for navigation. Of course, the system isn't perfect. Unless someone gives you a What3Words address, you still have to translate a regular street address to the What3Words address in order to use the system. Also, its random nature doesn't really provide an intuitive relationship between one location or another. With street addresses, you understand that 100 Main Street and 102 Main Street are near each other, while 900 Main Street might be far away. And you can see whether you're getting closer or farther by looking at the numbers. The square directly north of "congratulations, fingernails, desk" is "dome, next, senses". So there might still be a while before What3Words is adopted for widespread use. We could see this being useful in an off-road vehicle meant to venture into the wilderness. Still, the more options the better, and if What3Words does become commonplace, the Lamborghini Huracan will be ready.