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Ferruccio Lamborghini's twin-twelve Riva speedboat restored [w/video]

Everyone knows that Lamborghini makes exotic sportscars, but true aficionados are also well versed in the other types of machinery that has worn the Raging Bull emblem. There are the tractors, of course, with which founder Ferruccio got his start, but the company has also marinized its high-revving twelve-cylinder engines for use on the water.
Over the years, Lamborghini engines powered many crews to offshore powerboat racing trophies, but before all of that came the vessel you see here. The 278th of 769 made between 1962 and 1996, this Riva Aquarama was commissioned by Ferruccio Lamborghini himself. It was delivered from the shipyard in 1968, complete with a pair of 4.0-liter V12 engines out of a Lamborghini 350 GT, and old man Ferruccio enjoyed using it for many years.
Following his death in 1993, the one-of-a-kind Riva Aquarama Lamborghini disappeared into obscurity, hidden away from the world under a tarp until a Dutch collector tracked it down and had it restored by Sandro Zani and his team at Riva World. The project took three years to complete, including the restoration of the wooden hull with 25 coats of lacquer applied.

Lamborghini officially reveals new Veneno Roadster

Sexy or vulgar - whatever you thought of the Veneno which Lamborghini unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this past March, it didn't much matter. Because by the time we saw it, all three examples were already bought and paid for... at the equivalent of $3.9 million each. But if you had that much cash burning a hole in your pocket and lamented missing out on the opportunity to put one in your driveway, we've got good news, because Lamborghini has just confirmed another nine examples to be built. Only this time, it's got no roof.
Now officially confirmed after leaking out the other day, the Lamborghini Veneno Roadster features the same radical styling, extreme competition-derived aerodynamics, carbon-intensive construction and twelve-cylinder powertrain as the coupe that proceeded it and which we enjoyed photographing for your viewing pleasure just last month. The principal difference, of course, is the open-air cockpit, which offers no protection from the elements whatsoever: no fabric umbrella contraption, no removable glass or metal panel, nothing to get between your dome and the air rushing by at 220 miles per hour. That's the same top speed as the coupe, while the 0-62 run takes just a fraction of a second longer at 2.9 seconds. But we doubt you'd notice the difference with that 6.5-liter V12 revving just behind your ears.
It's the same engine and seven-speed ISR gearbox that powers the Aventador, only tuned up to 750 horsepower for the Veneno. And it should have more power, because at 3.3 million euros (about $4.5 million, give or take a Gallardo), the Veneno Roadster isn't just $600,000 more expensive than the Veneno coupe, it's also more than ten times the price of an Aventador. Still with us? You can scope out all the details in the press release below and browse through the photos in the gallery above for a closer look.

Lambo Urus to stay true to concept, but almost didn't happen

Lamborghini has been making noise about adding a third model line for years, and it's finally going to happen now that the Urus concept has been approved for production. It'll likely be a while yet before all the details are sorted out and revealed to the public, but while visiting the factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Autoblog was able to glean some intriguing details about the Italian automaker's forthcoming crossover and its path it is taking from concept to production. "It's good to have heritage, but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint." - Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann We first saw the Urus concept back in 2012, and Lamborghini has been lobbying its parent company Volkswagen ever since for the go-ahead to put it into production. Now three years later, it finally has the green light. A company representative told Autoblog the production version looks "very" close to the concept. (No ground-up redesign here, then, like sister-brand Bentley did with its inaugural crossover project.) Speaking with a small group of journalists in Sant'Agata, the company's chief executive Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that "the SUV could be the [company's] first car with a turbo, and it could be the first car with a plug-in, if we have the opportunity to have more than one engine." The Urus (or however it's ultimately labeled for production) will also be decidedly geared towards on-road performance – unlike the Rambo Lambo on display in the museum next door. "It's good to have heritage," said Winkelmann, "but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint" for the new model. As to the question of why it has taken three years to get approval, and why it will take another three to put it into production, Winkelmann was frank: "Basically if you look at our numbers, we are a company which is growing at a fast pace, but we are very small," said the affable executive. "We had to find a way to almost double our efforts, because it's not the exchange of a model line, with the Gallardo and Huracan, it's adding a model line. And not out of 20 to come to 21 models, but from two to three is a major effort, and you have to have a rock-solid business case." "Putting 500 more people inside a company which is now at 1,200, you can imagine what it means. Doubling almost the size of the area here where we are sitting today. Investing hundreds and hundreds of millions.