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Bertone goes bust

The famous Italian coachbuilder and designer Bertone may be on its deathbed. The company that penned the beautiful shape of the Lamborghini Miura has been facing financial hardships for months, and Autocar is reporting that the Turin, Italy firm has just declared bankruptcy. The last we heard from Bertone, it was showing the Jet 2+2 station wagon based on an Aston Martin Rapide at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The Turin-based carrozzeria became famous for its wild designs like the BMW Spicup concept, Lancia Stratos and the initial shape of the Lamborghini Countach. In recent years, it had been limited to creating mostly one-off vehicles. The company has slowly been shrinking recently. It sold its small factory to Fiat a few years go and let go of 165 employees and 10 interns in December. Bertone has been shopping itself in hopes of finding a new owner. According to PistonHeads, even with the money problems, the business generated 20-million euros ($27.9 million) in revenue in 2013 and has been working on projects in China. A Turkish firm was rumored to be interested in buying it for just $2.7 million, and GT Spirit claims that there are also seven Italian companies potentially interested in purchasing it. Bertone has a long and proud automotive history, and it wouldn't be surprising if it were bought just for the value of the brand – perhaps we haven't seen the last of its stylized B logo. Featured Gallery Bertone Jet 2+2: Geneva 2013 View 10 Photos News Source: Autocar via Pistonheads, GTSpiritImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Design/Style Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing BMW Lamborghini Lancia Concept Cars Luxury Special and Limited Editions Performance Classics bertone lamborghini miura Lamborghini Countach

Audi R8, Lamborghini Huracan could get twin-charged five-cylinder

Engine downsizing and forced induction are some of the biggest trends in automotive powertrains today because. They offer the chance to reduce emissions and boost fuel economy, while possibly maintaining power. The shift is already happening to performance cars with turbocharged four-cylinders finding their way into the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and future Porsches. Now, there are rumblings of a tiny chance for a similar change coming for the Lamborghini Huracan and Audi R8. Why the new powertrain? China. While the market there might have slowing growth, it's still a major country for auto sales. The annual taxes on cars there also happen to be based on engine displacement, and there's a 40 percent rate on those over 4.0-liters, according to Car and Driver. The obvious answer to this conundrum is to build a smaller displacement, forced induction engine for the R8 and Huracan. Car and Driver points to the new turbocharged and electrically supercharged, 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder from the recent Audi TT Clubsport Turbo concept as a possible solution. Audi's e-turbo technology runs off a 48-volt electrical system and lithium-ion battery to produce a total of 600 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque in the prototype. With this mill, horsepower would barely shrink compared to the R8 V10 Plus and Lambo, but it actually makes more peak torque than their 5.2-liter V10s. While this is all theoretically feasible, take the possibility with a big grain of salt for now. According to Car and Driver, Quattro GmbH's Stephan Reil says that there's no work currently underway to fit the twin-charged five-cylinder, "but it has been talked about." That means such a vehicle is likely years away, if ever. In the meantime, a diesel version of the e-turbo setup is on the way the in the SQ7. Related Video:

Lamborghini rules out sub-Huracan sports car

There is a kind-of-new segment emerging in the sports car market: an area in between vehicles like the Porsche 911 Carrera and supercars like the Ferrari 488 GTB or Lamborghini Huracan. It's a space recently defined by the Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo, with some newcomers rushing in. McLaren joined in with the 570S and Ferrari is tipped to be looking at a new six-cylinder Dino revival. But Lamborghini isn't in any rush participate. At least not for now, and not with a completely new model. Speaking with Car and Driver during the New York Auto Show, Lamborghini chief Stephan Winkelmann said you can "never say never" about anything in this business, but that the prospect a more accessible sports car underneath the Huracan is not currently on the table. Winkelmann pointed towards pricing and volume considerations, but we imagine there's more to it than that. The Volkswagen Group of which Lamborghini is part already tackles that segment with the aforementioned Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo, and while the German giant has never shied away from flooding a market segment with overlap from its various divisions, the R8 and the Huracan are already closely related. The Lambo chief did hint that decontented versions of the Huracan could fit the bill, though. Sant'Agata's ten-cylinder model currently starts at $237,250, but the previous Gallardo started at $191,900 before it was phased out. That was for the less powerful, rear-drive LP 550-2, which could hint at a successor under the Huracan's umbrella. And that's just $7k more than McLaren will be asking for the 570S. Aside from the prospect of a cheaper Lambo, Winkelmann also told C/D that the Asterion hybrid concept was strictly a technological demonstrator with no chances of production, that the Urus crossover project is still on the table, and that the supercar market isn't growing as fast as you might think. Related Video: