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Egoista concept comes home to Lamborghini Museum

Unless you happen to live in one of the great supercar capitals of the world, seeing a Lamborghini up close is a rare treat. But even in such rarified company, some Lambos stand out more than others. We're talking here about elusive examples like the Reventón (of which only 20 were made), the $3.4-million Veneno (only four made) or this, the one-of-a-kind Egoista.
The Egoista concept was revealed a year and a week ago during Lamborghini's 50th anniversary celebrations. Unless you are a Lamborghini owner who traveled to Italy for the event, chances are you didn't get a chance to see it. But if you're heading to the Bologna region any time in the near future, you'll be able to check it out at the Lamborghini Museum in Sant'Agata.
There the one-of-a-kind single-seater concept with the aircraft-style canopy greenhouse will surely occupy a place of honor, alongside the many classic, racing and otherwise significant models - including the Sesto Elemento, Estoque and Miura concepts. Unfortunately, since Google's crew was there before the Egoista (or before us, for that matter), you won't be able to see it on Street View, so you're going to have to trek to northern Italy to see it for yourself.

Next-gen Lamborghini Aventador to get batteries and active aero?

Sportscar makers at the pointy end of class flout what appear to be inevitable business decisions the same way their offerings flout what appear to be inevitable physical limitations. Questions we've asked for years include: How long until Ferrari builds an SUV? (Next year.) How long until Chevrolet reveals a mid-engined Corvette? ( Soon?) And how long until Lamborghini must perform hybridised open heart surgery on its nonpareil V12? According to Motor Authority, as part of an interview with Lamborghini R&D honcho Maurizio Reggiani at the Detroit Auto Show, the answer to that last question is likely with the next generation. Reggiani told MA that the next-gen Aventador will definitely come with a V12. After that, the man who makes the bulls said "we must decide what will be the future of the super sportscar in terms of electric contribution," the principle issue of that contribution not being performance, but weight and power delivery. The 4,085-pound Aventador makes scales weep, explaining why Reggiani is so grave about weight implications that even a dual-clutch transmission - a seeming shoo-in for the next-gen car - won't get a pass until it justifies its extra heft over the present, hoary, single-clutch gearbox. Carbon fiber already forms the Aventador's tub, so engineers in Sant' Agata can't evaporate hundreds of pounds with that conversion. Lamborghini's been working on the new car's platform a for more than a year, no doubt with batteries in mind, yet stuffing a load of Triple As into the chassis could turn a battleship into a dreadnought. That formula works for Bugatti, but won't serve Lamborghini nor its clientele. Reggiani isn't opposed to some sort of electric assistance when the next-gen car bows in 2020 or 2021, and at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year said he sees plug-in hybrid tech as the next step, but we won't be surprised if the V12 song remains the naturally-aspirated same at launch. Still, the question of electrification - and turbocharging - remains one of "When?" There's so much writing on the wall that the writing is the wall: two years ago, Reggiani admitted that turbos will get bolted on "sooner or later," as did Lamborghini's commercial officer Federico Foschini last year, the Urus will dial up a hybrid powertrain soon, reports declare the next-gen Huracan will go hybrid in 2022, and Euro 6 emissions aren't getting less stringent. No matter how the coming flagship makes its power, expect more of everything.

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.