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Lamborghini CEO says Urus headed to production

It's only a matter of time before Lamborghini is cleared to start producing the Urus sport utility vehicle, and, according to CEO Stephan Winkelmann, that time is expected to be soon, The Detroit News reports.
"We're going low profile now," Winkelmann says. "I can't tell you much on details now, but when we get close to the launch, we will have more." The CEO reportedly said earlier this year that the Urus would start production in 2017, which was backed up by earlier statements made by parent company Audi's CEO, Rupert Stadler, who told Autocar, "Lamborghini has to do it. Because of the need to dovetail into production cycles, we should see the Urus in 2017."
Lamborghini delayed production of the Urus a year ago due to Europe's economic climate while continuing to develop the SUV. But since then China, one of Lamborghini's largest emerging markets, has exhibited a slowdown of high-end luxury item purchases. Winkelmann now reportedly says the biggest opportunities are in "Japan, the Middle East and especially the US."

Lamborghini owner forgives teen for using car as a bike ramp

A teenager in Singapore got off shockingly easy after he was caught on camera riding his bike across the hood of a Lamborghini last week. According to The New Paper, Izzadnaff Abdul Qusyairl was on his way to play some games at a local arcade in Bedok, Singapore, when he saw a bright yellow Lamborghini Gallardo parked outside of Bedok Stadium. Being a dumb teenager, Izzadnaff decided to pull a stunt he saw on YouTube. Izzadnaff rode his bike up the hood and over the top of the Lambo. Unfortunately for him, the Lambo's dashcam was on and caught him in the act. The Lambo's owner, Aaron Keder, uploaded the footage to Facebook, kicking off an internet manhunt for the young cyclist. Qusyairl's mother got wind of the situation and quickly took matters into her own hands by first giving her son a stern talking to and then contacting Keder through a mutual friend. "Izzadnaff is usually obedient. I don't know what happened to him that day," she told New Paper. "He was very afraid to admit to his mistake after that, but I told him that he had done something wrong, so he had to stand up and admit his mistake." Thankfully, Keder seemed to have a good sense of humor about the incident and agreed to sit down with the abashed teen and sort the situation out. "I met the family on Sunday afternoon and we have resolved the issue," said Keder. "All I wanted was an explanation from the boy and to know how he felt when he went on top of my car. I also wanted him to know that what he had done was wrong and not to repeat it."Related Video: Image Credit: Caddy Viral / YouTube Auto News Weird Car News Lamborghini singapore stunts bmx lambo gallardo

Audi CEO says brand's EVs are almost as profitable as its other cars

After, oh, a hundred years or so of building vehicles primarily powered by internal combustion engines, automakers around the world have been and still are pumping billions of dollars into the development of electric vehicle technology. Everything from platforms and batteries to motors and the software to control it all requires untold hours of development, and that takes time and money. Fortunately, it's not going to take long for that massive investment to start paying off, at least according to Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who told Reuters in an interview that "The point where we earn as much money with electric cars as with combustion engine cars is now, or ... next year, 2023. They are very even now, the prices." As a brand, Audi contributed more than a quarter of overall profit for the massive Volkswagen Group, which has such powerhouse brands as Volkswagen and Porsche among others. Under the Audi umbrella are Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, and it seems those high-end branches aren't going anywhere, at least for now. "These brands ... are very valuable very profitable brands, where we can even expand the synergy level in the future," Duesmann said in the interview. "There are no plans whatsoever to get rid of them." Despite the overall profitability of the brand, the ongoing global chip crisis is causing headaches. "We had a very strong first half in 2021. We do expect a much weaker second half," said Duesmann, who added, "We really have trouble." In fact, so serious is the trouble that the brand is forced into "a day-to-day troubleshooting process" to limit the chip-shortage damage. The good news for the automaker is that Audi has been able to boost its profit margin from 8% prior to the pandemic in 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2021. The bad news is that various chip shortages aren't expected to get a whole lot better over the rest of the year. Related video: