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Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically "retired" earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.
In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the "Spirit of Le Mans" for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.

Leno's Lamborghini Espada is a freshly restored super-wagon

To give you a sense of why we love Jay Leno, outside of just his taste in cars and ability to preserve so many of them, is that he didn't always have a massive warehouse full of exotics. At one point during his 30-year ownership of this 1969 Lamborghini Espada, it was his only car. Now it has somewhere north of 100k miles on it (he doesn't know exactly because the odometer stopped working at one point – go figure!), and it's still driving great. Leno claims he have it a mechanical refresh about 10 years ago, mostly to clean up some dodgy wiring, and it is fresh out of a cosmetic refresh to address some rust bubbles in the quarters. The V12 is healthy – Leno credits that to letting it warm up before setting off – and it sounds phenomenal. Other than some minor upgrades, like a modern air conditioning system and some added sound insulation, it's mechanically stock. Inside, there's plenty of room for four adults, and Leno's large frame fits just fine in the driver's seat. The Espada set Leno back $26,000 in 1986, when he considered buying a Ferrari 330 GTC. The Ferrari was $2,500 more, so he picked the Lamborghini. Now, that 330 GTC is a $1m+ car, and the Espada? Not so much, although they are appreciating. Don't cry too much for Leno, he turned out all right. Just enjoy the Espada ripping along in sunny California, making all the right noises. Celebrities Lamborghini Wagon Classics Videos Jay Lenos Garage lamborghini espada

2020 Lamborghini Huracan facelift teased ahead of likely reveal this year

The Lamborghini Huracan is getting a light refresh for the 2020 model year soon, as a couple teaser photos preview here. Auto Express originally found the images that were apparently released to the Lamborghini consumer app for Lamborghini owners. These couple photos were reportedly pulled from there — we can't verify them, though, as the app is available for download by invitation only. However, when comparing them to spy shots of a Huracan Spyder we saw in September last year, these look representative of styling elements we saw on that car. Slightly different headlights along with a revised shape for the DRLs are the first thing we see changed from the current car. Lamborghini appears to have done some finessing with the front bumper. It's not quite the Performante, but we can expect it to produce more downforce. The photo from the rear tells us virtually nothing about the car, but the rear looks to be receiving the brunt of the changes according to our previous spy shots. We know it's going to have a more aggressive rear diffuser and feature exhaust outlets in the center of the rear fascia. Those are always cool to see. Besides these small bits here and there, it's unlikely to see any wholesale changes arrive for the base model Huracan. Future versions of this car or new models will pack electrified powertrains, but those might be further down the line than this slight refresh. New tech could be on its way to the interior in the form of infotainment/layout — being on the market since 2015 has dated it. Watch out for a reveal sometime this year for the new Huracan, most likely at a European auto show. View 5 Photos Related video: