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Lamborghini Aventador SV gets more, less weight [w/video]

Following Lamborghini's recent tease, we were pretty certain that the Italian supercar brand would unveil its Aventador Superveloce at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Sure enough, during the Volkswagen Group Night event, the supercar with more power and less weight made its grand debut. Technically dubbed the Aventador 750-4 SV, Lambo revised the valve train and added a new four-exit exhaust with less backpressure. The result is a redline now at 8,500 rpm and a boost to 740 horsepower and 509 pound-feet of torque. Grunt still gets to all four wheels via a seven-speed gearbox. The changes help reduce the sprint to 62 miles per hour to just 2.8 seconds, and if that's not enough, 124 mph is just 8.6 seconds away from a standing start. The top speed reportedly rises to 217 mph. The other major factor in helping this improved performance is a 110-pounds reduction in weight to tip the scales at 3,362 pounds, which comes thanks to copious amounts of carbon fiber. On the outside, the door panels, side sills, fenders and new fixed rear wing are all made from the lightweight material, and the upgraded parts for the body reportedly increase downforce by 170 percent. The interior even features Lambo's Carbon Skin fabric for the headliner. Beyond the lighter weight and extra power, customers get magneto-rheological dampers, carbon-ceramic brakes and variable ratio electric power steering. All of this Italian performance comes at a price of 327,190 euros before any value-added tax when the cars go on sale in the spring. Official US pricing isn't announced yet , but that figure equates to about $366,000. Check out a video of the car being unveiled at VW's Group Night festivities in Geneva.

Lamborghini recalls Aventador over headlamp problem

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a bulletin over a recall for up to 144 examples of the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador here in the States. The affected models, built from July 15, 2011 to April 20, 2012 have headlights that apparently don't conform to US federal motor vehicle safety standards. The lamps can be aimed horizontally but not vertically, which can reduce their usefulness for the driver and blind oncoming traffic if aimed improperly.
Lamborghini is expected to begin notifying affected owners next week, at which time they can take their Aventadors to their dealers for a fix free of charge. The complete bulletin from NHTSA is below.

As VW electrifies, it questions the role of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen needs to change to stay relevant in the electric and digital vehicle era and will announce "important steps" to that end before the close of the year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday. "Volkswagen needs to change: From a collection of valuable brands and fascinating combustion-engine products that thrill customers with superb engineering — to a digital company that reliably operates millions of mobility devices worldwide," Diess told shareholders at the company's virtual general meeting. Vehicles need to stay in contact with customers, offer new services and comfort functions on a weekly or even daily basis, he said. "We will take further important steps to set the course for this in the rest of 2020," Diess said. Senior executives told Reuters the company is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play as the company increasingly focuses on electric, digital and autonomous vehicles. Volkswagen, which also owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, is looking at whether it has the resources to accelerate development of electric platforms for smaller brands at a time it is investing billions to transform its more mainstream cars. Asked whether Ducati, which is known for making noisy combustion-engined motorbikes, has an electric future, Markus Duesmann, who oversees research and development for the group, said: "It will not take long until we see an electric Ducati." Whether Ducati, which is a medium-sized premium motorbike brand, would offer an electric variant, depends on whether a bike could offer range comparable to a combustion-engined variant, Duesmann said. Advances are being made in battery technology which could make this possible, he added. Separately Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer, in response to a question about whether a sale of Lamborghini is planned, said Volkswagen does not comment on speculation about potential divestments. Lamborghini's Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali this week announced his departure from the sports car maker to take on a new job as president of Formula One. VW needs cash Volkswagen is reviewing the future of these three high-performance brands as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars, senior executives told Reuters.