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Infographic: Comparing the Veneno, LaFerrari and P1 supercars

This year's Geneva Motor Show served as the launch platform for three of the world's latest and greatest supercars. The Italians brought us the Lamborghini Veneno and the Ferrari LaFerrari, while the British unveiled the production version of the McLaren P1.
To put the three in better perspective - as if any of us will ever fully comprehend trio of million dollar coupes - the Aussies at Motoring.com built an infographic (click above to enlarge) that outlines what makes each of these cars so spectacular. Using unique colors to represent each of the vehicles, the team put together a variety of charts that focus on vital statistics, pricing, total production run and other parameters all designed to ease the process of digesting an overabundance of exotic goodness. We have uploaded the graphic full size in this link.

Jon Olsson drives his Lambo up a glacier because why not?

The latest stunt by Jon Olsson has no particular purpose, but we love it just the same. Olsson, a former ski racer, always has a neat car with an equipment carrier stuck on top, and in this video he puts his customized rear-drive Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 to work at Fonna Glacier Ski Resort in Norway. Makse sense to us. As he says in the short video, the aim is to have fun. He drives the Lambo up the Norwegian glacier aided by monster rear tires with some frightening studs, and then he makes things a little more interesting by creating a giant giant slalom course for the car. Olsson even clips the gates with the mirrors and front tires as he makes the turns, like you would on skis (except replace mirrors with pole guards and tires with skis). Snow is sprayed, there's lots of V12 revving, and it's all beautifully shot. It looks like he accomplished his modest goal. A little more about the car: On his website, Olsson says it took three years to build. One year was wasted by the first guy that offered to build it for free and ended up selling parts off of it to make rent. It then took two years to make things right again and add a carbon-fiber body kit, an IPE exhaust, a suede interior, a carbon steering wheel from a Gallardo, bigger brakes, and convert it to rear-wheel drive. His signature ski box sits on top, supported by a custom rack, and of course the whole car is plastered with logos from Olsson's sponsors, because those winterized supercars cost money, you know? Oh, and Olsson has owned a lot of cars. Mostly Audis and Lamborghinis lately, but his past includes a couple of track-prepped 3 Series and a Mazda B2000. Our kind of dude. Related Video:

Why Italians are no longer buying supercars

Italy is the wound that continues to drain blood from the body financial of Italian supercar and sports car makers. The wound was opened by the country's various financial police who decided to get serious about superyacht-owning and supercar-driving tax cheats a few years ago, by noting their registrations and checking their incomes. When it was found that a rather high percentage of exotic toy owners had claimed a rather low annual income - certain business owners were found to be declaring less income than their employees - the owners began dumping their cars and prospective buyers declined to buy.
Car and Driver has a piece on how the initiative is hitting the home market the hardest. Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide in 2010, 1,602 cars in 2011 and 2,083 cars in 2012 - an excellent surge in just two years. In Italy, however, it's all about the ebb: in 2010, the year that Italian police began scouring harbors, Lamborghini sold 96 cars in Italy, the next year it sold 72, last year it sold just 60. The declines for Maserati and Ferrari are even more pronounced.
Head over to CD for the full story and the numbers. What might be most incredible isn't the cause and effect, but where the blame is being placed. A year ago the chairman of Italy's Federauto accused the government of "terrorizing potential clients," this year Luca di Montezemolo says what's happening has created "a hostile environment for ­luxury goods." Life at the top, it ain't easy.