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Lamborghini Invencible and Autentica are brand's final NA V12 cars

A few months ago, we wrote that the final production units of the Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae represented the end of the reign of the naturally aspirated V12 in Sant'Agata Bolognese, and the last Aventador Ultimae meant the end of an NA V12 Aventador. Seems we were mistaken. Lamborghini now tells us these two one-offs are the proper and (maybe) final end of the NA V12. Created for a customer who worked with Lamborghini Centro Stile from inception, the duo are the Invencible (the Spanish spelling of "Invincible") coupe and Autentica roadster. They're not only farewells, they are greatest-hits compilations said to combine design features from the Reventon from 2008, the Sesto Elemento from 2010, the Veneno from 2013, and the 830-horsepower Essenza SCV12 track-only coupe from 2020. Lamborghini didn't mention the Sian FKP 37, but the headlights are a match, and the side vents are a mix between the Sian and the Sesto Elemento.   Both are based on the Aventador's carbon fiber tub, and both feature a 6.5-liter V12 making 769 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque. The Invencible wears carbon fiber panels in Rosso Efesto, which is Hephaestus Red, Hephaestus being the Greek god of things like fire and volcanoes. The paint's accented with carbon-look elements that glint with red flakes, brake calipers in Rosso Mars, and pure carbon. The hexagonal Tricolore on the door fits in with numerous other six-sided elements like the DRLs, three-part taillights, and exhaust. A tidy, angular swan-neck wing hovers over the rear fascia, its stanchions anchored beside the backlight.    Inside is a mix of Rosso Alala leather, Nero Cosmus Alcantara, and contrast stitching in Rosso Alala and Nero Ade. Rosso Efesto is used on the steering wheel and for the shift paddles. Designers removed the Aventador's infotainment screen, moving all readouts to the digital gauge display and leaving twin hexagonal vents to dominate the open space over a pocket trimmed in red. The Autentica roadster is painted in Grigio Titans with details in Giallo Auge (Yellow Peak) and Matte Black. Instead of the Invencible's rear wing, a pair of fins highlighted by a yellow line channel air over the rear spoiler. Inside, occupants sit on Nero Ade leather and Giallo Taurus stitching, and can ogle two-tone Nero Cosmus and Grigio Octans Alcantara. This is really it for the V12. We think.

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.

Stop everything, and appreciate the Lamborghini Miura's mechanical beauty

Everybody knows the Lamborghini Miura is one of the greatest automotive designs of all time. It's also known that the Miura's V12 heart is one of the greatest powertrains of all time. But there's more to a car than just the body and the engine. Celebrating the intricacies of manufacturing, Artist Fabian Oefner took his disintegrating cars series to new heights by using a real 1972 Miura SV to create stunning photos of the remarkable internals of the historic Lamborghini. In the past, Oefner has created fantastic museum-quality images by using scale model cars and suspending their parts to look like explosions of mechanical goodness. This Miura, however, is the real deal. A collector and friend contacted Oefner to suggest that a full restoration of the car would be a perfect opportunity to photograph the vehicle and create a life-sized version of his Disintegrating Cars series. The results are absolutely breathtaking. The original idea of the series was an exploration of time and reality. Oefner takes each part and suspends it from above to create an exposed three-dimensional examination of the car. Using a real vehicle, however, was a much different process. Creating his work in his studio was a calming and centering process for Oefner, whereas working on a real Lamborghini was much more time-sensitive and much more involved, with several mechanics working on the car. Such a complicated and involved procedure created a special bond between artist and subject. "At the end of the process, you know every single detail," Oefner said in the video above. "It's more like it's a person, if you want to say so. Every time I see the car, it's like, 'Oh, I know you!'" The art, which took two years of work and photography in the Sant`Agatha Lamborghini factory, allows enthusiasts to know the car better, too, as the final product uses 1,500 parts. See more detailed photos of the art and the work on Fabien Oefner's portfolio site. News Source: Fabien Oefner, Lamborghini Design/Style Lamborghini Coupe Performance Supercars Classics Videos lamborghini miura