2013 Lamborghini Gallardo Lp550-2 Spyder on 2040-cars

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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.

2021 Lamborghini Urus Graphite Capsule is all about contrast

There are seemingly two reasons to buy a 2021 Lamborghini Urus. One is for the performance. The other is to stand out. The Urus does both well, but Lamborghini hopes the new Graphite Capsule model will further enhance the big Lambo's ability to catch attention. On the outside, the Urus Graphite Caspule gets one of four matte-finish paint colors for the main body, and one of four gloss paint colors for the accents, which are restricted to the front splitter, door trims, rear spoiler and wheel rims. The matte finishes come in black, white or a choice of two grays, and the accents are available in green, yellow or two choices of orange. The monochrome base paints let the boldly colored accents really pop. The exterior color scheme is reflected on the inside, where all the stitching and a few seat, dash and door panels are given the same color as the outside accents. The rest is finished in black. The aluminum trim is given a dark anodized finish, and the interior carbon fiber has a matte finish. A special option exclusive to the Graphite Capsule, as well as the Pearl Capsule model, is ventilated seats upholstered in Alcantara. Pricing has not been announced. Exact availability is also unknown, but it will be available on the current 2021 model. So it should be available very soon. Related Video:

Lamborghini may offer rear-drive Huracan

Lamborghini may not offer a manual-transmission option on the new Huracán - so few customers were asking for it on the preceding Gallardo as it was - but don't think that it won't pursue ever more hardcore variants. And that will reportedly include a rear-drive version.
Speaking with journalists at the Pebble Beach unveiling of the new Huracán Super Trofeo, Lamborghini CEO Stefan Winkelmann is reported to have said, "We did it with the Gallardo so it might be an option. We are a four-wheel-drive super-sports car [manufacturer] but why should we not do a rear-drive option?"
The rear-drive Huracán would naturally shed a few pounds off the all-wheel-drive version's curb weight, but the question is just how much. There is said to have only been so much of the AWD system that Sant'Agata was able to strip out of the Gallardo to make the rear-drive Balboni edition after the fact, but if the Huracán was engineered from the get-go for both drivetrains, the rear-drive version could prove that much more thrilling to drive.