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World's most expensive model car will be wrapped in thin gold sheet [w/video]

A couple of years ago, we featured a car that had a body made out of carbon fiber and an interior and wheels fashioned from gold and platinum and lined with diamonds. The price for that supercar, based on the Lamborghini Aventador, was a staggering $4.7 million. The hook: it was a 1/8-scale model! The man behind that model, Robert Gülpen, is at it again, and will offer for sale at an auction house another baby Aventador, but this one is wrapped in gold and will command a price of at least $7.5 million - making it the most-expensive model car in the world. Compare the model's price with that of the real thing - $397,500 - which means you could have 18 real Aventador coupes (!) for the price of the gold-wrapped model.
The car's details are even more impressive than the last model Gülpen produced, starting with the gold wrap. After baking the carbon-fiber model at a high temperature and under pressure, the body is wrapped in a gold sheet that's 1/1,000-mm thin. The resultant effect allows one to admire the gold hue, but the wrap is so thin that the carbon-fiber weave is plainly visible. The interior is lined with high-carat gemstones and the wheels are cast in gold and platinum, just like the last model. The doors open and close, the wheels turn and, while the engine looks like a smaller version of the V12 found in the full-size car, it does not function.
The materials used in the build are valued at $2.6 million, so what the buyer is paying for is the work behind putting the model together. The car will be mounted inside a bulletproof showcase with a Lamborghini logo made of gold, platinum and gemstones, among other goodies that are included for one well-heeled buyer.

Donald Trump's Lamborghini Diablo is up for sale

Back in Donald Trump's booming heyday, a car couldn't get much flashier, much more outlandish, much more... Trump than a Lamborghini Diablo. Turns out he actually owned one – a 1997 Lamborghini Diablo VT roadster, to be specific, like the one pictured above. And now it's up for sale. This VT roadster is one of just 200 or so that were made before the 1999 facelift. It featured the Viscous Traction (viscous-fluid coupling) all-wheel drive system that debuted on the Diablo VT, and the carbon-fiber roof panel could be removed and stowed over the engine cover. Short of the Ferrari 575M Superamerica with the Fioravanti-designed flip-top, we could hardly imagine a more fitting set of wheels for the mogul. Bear in mind that the Diablo was developed when the company was owned by Chrysler – which would not, of course, prove the last time Chrysler would be in bed with an Italian automaker. This one was built after the brand was sold to a Malaysian company (before it was absorbed into the Volkswagen Group). And in those days, Lamborghini was closely allied with US-based supercar manufacturer Vector Motors. The Diablo was about as American as an Italian supercar could be. Trump's is finished in French Racing Blue and appears to be in pristine condition. It's now been adorned with Trump stickers, seemingly well-documented as having belonged to Trump himself, and formerly registered in Palm Beach, FL. It's being sold by one Michael Digonis in New York via The Drive, who is asking $299,000 for it. That is a lot, but considering the celebrity provenance it could prove a sound investment – especially if Trump wins the Republican nomination and the general election next year. Related Video:

Lamborghini hired 192 new employees in 2014

If you took a census of boyhood bedroom walls... well, first of all, you'd probably be arrested, so we wouldn't recommend it. But if you did, before they'd cart you off and put you on some list, you'd likely come to the conclusion (based purely on the posters of exotic supercars) that Lamborghini was one of the biggest, most important automakers in the world. But in fact it's quite small: just a year ago it had less than 1,000 employees on the payroll. That number is rapidly expanding, though. The Bolognese automaker reveals that just over the course of 2014, it expanded its workforce by "192 highly qualified technicians and specialists," bringing its roster up to 1,175 employees. That's a large share of the 500 new staffers it has hired over the last four years, and the company plans to hire more in 2015 "with equally significant numbers." Just as impressively, while unemployment is booming in Italy, especially among the younger generation, about half of those new recruits at the factory in Sant'Agata are under 30. Human resources isn't the only part of the company that's expanding, though. The Raging Bull marque is participating in motorsports more than it ever has before, but the biggest achievement can be seen in its sales figures. The company sold a record 2,530 units last year, which is a good hundred more than its previous record from 2008 and about ten times the numbers it was moving when Volkswagen and Audi took over in the late '90s. The arrival of the new Huracan promises to drive its sales even higher, and if Wolfsburg ever gives it the green light, a third model line (like the Urus crossover) would shoot its numbers through the roof. Automobili Lamborghini: A record hiring of of nearly 200 new employees in 2014 Sant'Agata Bolognese, 28 January 2015 - 2014 was an extraordinary year for Automobili Lamborghini: not only from the standpoint of sales (2,530 cars delivered to customers), but other indicators also demonstrate the growth of the House of the Raging Bull. In 2014, the company hired 192 highly qualified technicians and specialists, bringing the total number of permanent employees to 1,175. Over the last four years, nearly 500 new employees have been hired, all with open-ended contracts. Further recruitment is planned in 2015 with equally significant numbers. Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, commented: "Lamborghini is undergoing a strong phase of growth in both sales and in terms of recruitment.