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Lamborghini LB48H hypercar due next year: You might even say it glows

We know there's a hybrid Lamborghini Aventador successor coming sometime between 2020 and 2022. Due to deleted Instagram posts and a fissures in the rumor-verse, we expect a hypercar codenamed LB48H to preview the next electrified V12 Lamborghini. Autocar reports the next model in the Italian carmaker's series of low-volume specials will cost about $2.6 million, making it just another walk in the hypercar park as for price. The weird part is where Road & Track, referencing "a source familiar with Lamborghini's plans," says the LB48H will glow in the dark. The source didn't elaborate, so not even RT knows what that means. The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio concept from 2017 revealed a smattering of Tron-like light sculpture in its launch video. The wheels and engine bay glow, illuminated Italian flag graphics mark the front fenders, LED piping runs down the centerline. But lights don't come under the traditional definition of "glow in the dark." If the LB48H really does sport some kind of overall incandescence, well, we're about to enter a new chapter in hypercars. Other questions remain about how the LB48H will preview the future of Sant' Agata. The company's head of R&D has bemoaned the weight of batteries, admitting that the best-case scenario for the coming series-production hybrid V12 flagship means an additional 330 to 440 pounds. It's thought that the hypercar will use supercapacitors instead of batteries, providing a lightweight solution that would also showcase future technical potential. The all-electric Terzo Millennio employed nascent supercapacitor tech Lamborghini has been developing with MIT. That solution's upside is lighter size and weight compared to batteries, longer service life, a supercapacitor's fast charge and discharge ability, and the fact that it can discharge and recover energy at the same time. The downside is that supercapacitors have low energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries, so it's possible the LB48H could use a battery and a supercapacitor to work a 49-horsepower motor aiding an 789-hp V12. The production V12 is expected to get a more mundane solution. Lamborghini's looking ahead to cities mandating a minimum all-electric range up to 31 miles. One idea in play is a split hybrid layout, with an electric motor in charge of the front axle. That eliminates a prop shaft, and sharpens front axle response and torque vectoring.

Lamborghini implements 4-day workweek for production workers

Wikipedia Lamborghini is planning to implement a four-day workweek for its production workers. The new workweek is a historic industry win; other auto unions have failed to secure the same terms. Other companies that use the four-day workweek have reported high levels of productivity.  On Tuesday, Lamborghini announced a deal with its unions to implement a four-day workweek for car production workers. The unions called the agreement "historical," per Reuters. It is the first agreement of its kind in the European auto industry that reduces working hours without a wage cut — instead, it includes a raise and a one-time bonus of $1,082 in the next month. Overall, the new workweek will mean production workers work up to 31 fewer days a year, according to Road & Track. Lamborghini isn't the only company in Europe to adopt the shortened workweek — others, like the bank Intesa Sanpaolo and eyewear company EssilorLuxottica, have also recently made the change, per Reuters. Companies in Britain that have made the change have reported increased work productivity, better job retention and recruitment rates, and fewer sick days, according to Reuters. Other unions in the auto industry could not get companies like Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis to approve the shortened work hours, per The Street. "Work less and work better, this is the principle that guided this negotiation, and which is part of a comprehensive reasoning," FIOM and FIM-CISL unions said in a statement, per Road & Track. It's been a year of historic developments for the auto industry. In late October, the United Auto Workers strike ended strikes and made tentative agreements with all Big Three Detroit automakers, per previous Business Insider reporting. The deals included 25% raises, cost-of-living adjustments, and more accessible paths to full pay. Plants/Manufacturing UAW/Unions Lamborghini

Novitec Torado takes a stab at improving the Lamborghini Aventador [w/video]

Novitec has finished its tuning program for the Lamborghini Aventador, and it has called the mean-looking finished product, Torado. It looks like it wants to take the pedestrian sinisterness of the Aventador into an otherworldly rage, with carbon fiber vents, spoilers and protrusions lining the body from front to back.
Novitec says it's still good for daily use, even with four different stages of power tune and a fifth out-of-the-ballpark injection called "Bi-Kompressor." The power bumps start at 722 horsepower and 519 pound-feet and go up to 969 hp and 672 lb-ft with the bi-kompressor. The exhaust systems included in those packages are also good for shaving around 20 kilos from the car's weight.
There's a short press release below with more on Novitec's work, and a video of the Torado in the wind tunnel.