2022 Lamborghini Urus Novitec Widebody on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini Urraco ownership is traumatic but awesome

Gene Ondrusek and his 1975 Lamborghini Urraco have a relationship forged in heartache. He bought the car on a whim in 1987 and had barely driven it when the timing belt snapped thanks to a bad previous engine rebuild. With the interior already a wreck, Ondrusek set off on a restoration that would take years to get the Lamborghini back together.
All of that time arm-deep in the car's mechanicals has turned Ondrusek into a pretty persnickety owner. Passengers have to remove their shoes before getting in, and he has a mat to protect the carpet on the driver's side. However, despite his fastidious temperament, this Urraco isn't a garage queen and gets driven often.
Ondrusek doesn't exactly make the Urraco sound like an unmitigated joy behind the wheel, either. The seating position forces the driver to sit at an angle, and with no power brakes or power steering, the wedge-shaped coupe is not exactly easy to handle at low speeds. Still, all that time fixing the car has clearly created a strong bond behind man and machine, and we think the wedgy, underappreciated mid-Seventies Marcello Gandini design has held up well. Get a feel for both the car and the owner's connection by watching this latest video from Petrolicious.

VW Group to split brands under four holding companies

The Volkswagen Group is planning a tremendous shift in its internal structure that will decentralize operations by splitting its 12 brands into four different holding companies. Here's the breakdown. Things will be split logically, considering the inter-sharing of parts, platforms, and engines. The Volkswagen brand, Seat, and Skoda make up a passenger vehicle division led by former BMW man Herbert Diess. Audi, which is tightly intertwined with Lamborghini and motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, will be managed by current Audi exec Rupert Stadler. Porsche and Bentley, which are already quite close, will be joined by Bugatti and run by Matthias Mueller. Finally, a commercial vehicles division will include Volkswagen Commercial, Scania, and Man. Former Daimler exec Andreas Renschler will take care of the big vehicles. The massive move, according to Automotive News Europe, is part of an internal VAG effort to move away from the structure established by ousted Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who favored a compact, but highly centralized, management structure to oversee the independent actions of the company's brands. Criticism of Piech's arrangement stemmed from the company's slow responses to changes in the market, ANE reports. The new structure should make for a more efficient, streamlined company that's better able to make crucial decisions. What are your thoughts? Should VAG decentralize, or did Piech have the right idea? Have your say in Comments.

Lamborghini sold a record 3,245 supercars last year

Lamborghini sold 3,245 vehicles last year. That figure represents new record for the Italian automaker, which moved more supercars in 2015 than it has in any of its past 53 years in business. And that number only stands to grow in the coming years. This represents an enormous increase over the 2,530 units it sold in the previous calendar year – which itself set a new record in 2014. Lamborghini's previous high-water mark stood at 2,430 units sold in 2008, but dipped in subsequent years through the global economic downturn that hit exotic automakers particularly hard. What's more is that the Raging Bull marque is gearing up to increase its sales even further in the coming years. The factory in Sant'Agata is preparing to add a third model line to the existing Huracan and Aventador with the introduction of the Urus. Once production of the new crossover ramps up, Lamborghini expects to sell approximately 3,000 of them each year, potentially doubling the record numbers from last year. Even at those figures, the Italian brand remains among the smallest in the Volkswagen Group. Sales numbers from 2014 reveal that Bentley sold approximately 11,000 units, leaving only Bugatti as a smaller producer than Lamborghini with sales of its multi-million-dollar supercars counted in the hundreds, not thousands. Though it also posted record sales last year, rival McLaren sold roughly half the number of supercars that Lamborghini did at 1,650 units. By comparison Ferrari currently limits its production to 7,000 units per year – more than double Lamborghini's figures – and could raise that limit in the near future. Related Video: AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI: 150 NEW JOBS IN 2015 FOR THE URUS PROJECT WITH FURTHER HIRINGS TO FOLLOW IN 2016 Sant'Agata Bolognese, 26. January 2016 – Automobili Lamborghini just ended 2015 with exceptional results. The all-time record of 3,245 vehicles sold worldwide comes with a rapid growth in workforce, which now stands at 1,300 employees. More than 150 assembly line workers, technicians and highly qualified specialists have been hired recently with open-ended contracts, bringing the total of permanent employees taken on over the past five years to more than 600. Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, commented: "Lamborghini is experiencing strong, steady growth in sales and also in its workforce.