2023 Lamborghini Urus S on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini yacht by Tecnomar is 4,000-hp tribute to the Lambo Sian FKP 37

Lamborghini is no stranger to the boating industry, it developed a pair of marine engines in the 1980s, but it has never made its own boat. It took a step toward the world of yachts when it teamed with Italian firm Tecnomar to design a high-performance vessel inspired by the limited-edition Sian FKP 37 introduced in 2019. It's quick, rare, and head-turning, and it was deemed worth of wearing the company's Raging Bull emblem on its bow. Tecnomar (a boatmaker owned by The Italian Sea Group) worked directly with Lamborghini's Centro Stile to inject some of the design DNA that characterizes Sant'Agata's supercars into a yacht. The end result stands out with a strikingly rakish silhouette, Y-shaped LED lights on the front part of the hull, and hexagonal glass on both sides. They draw a visual link between the yacht and Marcello Gandini-designed cars such as the Miura and the Countach. Settling into the captain's chair feels a lot like slipping behind the wheel of a modern-day Lamborghini, except you're sitting taller, you're floating on water, and there's a lot more space around you. In lieu of an old-fashioned wooden helm, Tecnomar installed a three-spoke steering wheel that looks a lot like the unit Lamborghini currently puts in its cars. It even has a 12-o'clock mark, which seems more than a little superfluous when you're motorboating. Digital gauges display vital information about the boat and its surroundings, including navigation data, and the throttle levers are reminiscent of the drive mode selectors found on the center console of the Urus.     Buttons lifted straight out of the Lamborghini parts bin are used to start the engines -- and, yes, that's plural. While the Sian is the company's first production-bound hybrid model, there is nothing electrified about its water-going sibling. Power comes from a pair of V12 engines built by MAN and each rated at 2,000 horsepower. Performance specifications haven't been released yet, but it sounds like the yacht needs a 4,000-horse punch because it's 63 feet long and it weighs about 53,000 pounds. It's relatively light all things considered thanks in part to the use of carbon fiber in its construction, and it falls in the ultra-lightweight boat category. Tecnomar expects to deliver the first boats in early 2021. It capped production at 63 units globally, and it priced each one at $3 million before options are factored in.

Ferdinand Piech (1937-2019): The man who made VW global

Towering among his peers, a giant of the auto industry died Sunday night in Rosenheim/Upper Bavaria, Germany. Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Volkswagen in the 1930s, was the most polarizing automotive executive of our times. And one who brought automotive technology further than anyone else. Ferdinand Porsche had a son, Ferdinand (called "Ferry"), and a daughter, Louise, who married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech. They gave birth to Ferdinand Piech, and his proximity to two Alfa Romeo sports cars — Porsche had done some work for the Italians — and the "Berlin-Rome-Berlin" race car, developed by Porsche himself, gave birth to Piech's interest in cars. After his teachers in Salzburg told his mother he was "too stupid" to attend school there, Piech, who was open about his dyslexia, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. He subsequently moved on to Porsche, where he fixed issues with the 904 race car and did major work on the 911. But his greatest project was the Le Mans-winning 917 race car, developed at breathtaking financial cost. It annihilated the competition, but the family had had enough: Amid growing tension among the four cousins working at Porsche and Piech's uncle Ferry, the family decided to pull every family member, except for Ferry, out of their management positions. Piech started his own consultancy business, where he designed the famous five-cylinder diesel for Mercedes-Benz, but quickly moved on to Audi, first as an engineer and then as CEO, where he set out to transform the dull brand into a technology leader. Piech killed the Wankel engine and hammered out a number of ambitious and sophisticated technologies. Among them: The five-cylinder gasoline engine; Quattro all-wheel drive and Audi's fantastic rally successes; and turbocharging, developed with Fritz Indra, whom Piech recruited from Alpina. The Audi 100/200/5000 became the world's fastest production sedan, thanks to their superior aerodynamics. Piech also launched zinc-coated bodies for longevity — and gave diesel technology a decisive boost with the advent of the fast and ultra-efficient TDI engines. Less known: Piech also decided to put larger gas tanks into cars. Customers loved it. Piech's first-generation Audi V8 was met with derision by competitors; it was too obviously based on the 200/5000.

Lamborghini explains how (and why) it designed the Huracan Sterrato off-roader

Lamborghini broke new ground (literally and metaphorically) by launching an off-road-ready variant of the Huracan called Sterrato. It's not the brand's first off-roader; that branch of the family tree includes the LM002 built in the 1980s and the Urus. But it's the only Lamborghini that has made the improbable leap from the track to the trail. I sat down with Rouven Mohr, the head of the firm's research and development department, to find out how and why the Sterrato came to life. Interestingly, it started with a wild idea floated by executives during a dinner. [The following has been edited for clarity.] RG: What's the story behind this car? RM: I have a personal connection to this project. The basic idea was born at a dinner I attended the first time I worked for Lamborghini, in 2017. I was eating with Maurizio Reggiani, my former boss, and Mitja Borkert, our chief designer, right after a test of the Urus. We were so happy talking about how much fun the Urus is to drive on gravel, and we said, "This would be even cooler with a super-sports car." At that time, I was responsible for whole vehicle development. When I got back to the office, I decided to take an old Huracan durability test car that was scheduled to be scrapped and build a demo car. Everybody was so in love and agreed it was very cool, but based on other priorities the company decided to stop [the project]. When [CEO] Stephan Winkelmann returned to Lamborghini, he saw the car and asked why we didn't build it. So, we restarted the project. I'm back at Lamborghini now, and it's a big pleasure for me to bring this project to the market. RG: Beyond the cool factor, what was your goal during the project? RM: This car's mission is quite easy to explain. At Lamborghini, we always have two pillars. One is performance, which means pure numbers like top speed and lap times. It's not only Lamborghini [that can deliver this], however, because a lot of other brands also have the numbers. We are always looking for something unexpected that improves the driving thrill, the overall experience, and we recognized after testing the demo car that there is really nothing comparable from the perspective of pure emotional driving behavior on the market. The mission of this car is to bring maximum driving fun, not only on the track but also on low-grip surfaces. The mission of this car is transferring the driving experience that we have from the Huracan STO on the track to low-grip surfaces.