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As VW electrifies, it questions the role of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen needs to change to stay relevant in the electric and digital vehicle era and will announce "important steps" to that end before the close of the year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday. "Volkswagen needs to change: From a collection of valuable brands and fascinating combustion-engine products that thrill customers with superb engineering — to a digital company that reliably operates millions of mobility devices worldwide," Diess told shareholders at the company's virtual general meeting. Vehicles need to stay in contact with customers, offer new services and comfort functions on a weekly or even daily basis, he said. "We will take further important steps to set the course for this in the rest of 2020," Diess said. Senior executives told Reuters the company is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play as the company increasingly focuses on electric, digital and autonomous vehicles. Volkswagen, which also owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, is looking at whether it has the resources to accelerate development of electric platforms for smaller brands at a time it is investing billions to transform its more mainstream cars. Asked whether Ducati, which is known for making noisy combustion-engined motorbikes, has an electric future, Markus Duesmann, who oversees research and development for the group, said: "It will not take long until we see an electric Ducati." Whether Ducati, which is a medium-sized premium motorbike brand, would offer an electric variant, depends on whether a bike could offer range comparable to a combustion-engined variant, Duesmann said. Advances are being made in battery technology which could make this possible, he added. Separately Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer, in response to a question about whether a sale of Lamborghini is planned, said Volkswagen does not comment on speculation about potential divestments. Lamborghini's Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali this week announced his departure from the sports car maker to take on a new job as president of Formula One. VW needs cash Volkswagen is reviewing the future of these three high-performance brands as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars, senior executives told Reuters.

Lamborghini Gallardo ready to tow your Home Depot load

It's possible the Lamborghini Gallardo would have had an even grander reputation as an everyday exotic if more people had used it to tow trailers and lug home-renovation materials from store to workshop. That's what Canadian channel Canal Vie did to promote its new renovation show, strapping a couple of two-by-fours and a roll of insulation to the roof, and hooking up a trailer to the back of a second-generation Gallardo. The promotion had its intended effect. How could it not? People stare at a Gallardo even when it isn't hauling. With 398 foot-pounds of torque at its disposal, we wonder if you could slip a fifth-wheel on it...

Jay Leno's Garage gets agrarian with Lamborghini tractor

Stepping away from the trendy and arcane, the next guest in Jay Leno's Garage is a 1968-69 Lamborghini R485 tractor. In case there's anyone who doesn't know, the same Ferruccio Lamborghini ultimately responsible for giving us the Aventador started off making tractors in his native Italy after World War II.
The specs are a long way from anything we'd expect from the company's road-going products. The vineyard and orchard tractor has a 5.0-liter, four-cylinder engine that produces 85 horsepower and 350 foot-pounds of torque, a two-foot clutch and 12 forward gears that get it from 0.3 miles per hour to 14 mph. It's also got a starter motor from a Countach.
There's a whole lot more interesting info on the farm implement, the man who built it and the man who currently owns it in the episode below.