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The Huracan Performante will be the fastest Lamborghini yet

We expected the track-special Huracan you see above to be called Superleggera, as it's the lighter and more hard-core version of the little Lambo, but reports now confirm the name will be Performante. That's not the cool part. Thanks to a bunch of changes, including a new active aero system called ALA, this has the potential to be the fastest Lamborghini yet. That means faster than the Aventador SV, and quite possibly faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder. That measure of speed and world domination relates to the car's Nurburgring time, which hasn't been announced yet. We'll see the camouflage-free Performante first at the Geneva show in March, where it's likely the 'Ring time will be announced. What we know about it so far is very interesting, though. Motor Trend has driven a Performante prototype and provides a lot of details. Perhaps the coolest part, and the biggest facilitator for the extra speed, is the new active aero system called Aerodynamica Lamborghini Attiva. From MT's description, it sounds like it can "vector" airflow, opening and closing a flap on either side of the rear wing depending on which direction the car is turning. It also does away with heavy hydraulic rams in favor of electric motors to accomplish the active part. The car also gets a more powerful 5.2-liter V10 (around 30 more horsepower for a total of about 630), a weight reduction of about 90 pounds, upgrades suspension, stickier tires, and a retune of all electronic systems like those governing the transmission, ABS, traction control, and stability control. We'll bring you the full details on this monster Lamborghini track machine from Geneva in March. In the meantime, prepare yourself for a little Lambo that's quicker than its big brother – and pretty much every other production car out there. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Lamborghini Huracan Superleggera Spy Shots View 12 Photos News Source: Motor Trend Lamborghini Technology Coupe Performance Supercars confirmed lamborghini huracan superleggera

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler: Ducati is not for sale

"Ducati is not for sale." Those words, attributed to Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, are about as clear and definitive as can be, and they reiterate a previous statement about the potential sale of the premium Italian motorcycle brand that was made in March of this year. "[Ducati and Lamborghini] belong to Audi and, together with us, have an excellent future," said Stadler. Thing is, Audi, as well-off and established as it may be, still falls under the Volkswagen umbrella. And, as you're surely aware, things haven't exactly been smooth sailing for the VW Group over the last several months. The German automaker has squirreled away billions of dollars in anticipation of the legal fallout that's sure to come from the falsification of vehicle emissions data, and that's going to leave the company strapped for cash. All of that bad news led to speculation that VW could sell off some of its non-core businesses. What of the future of the Scania and Man heavy truck brands? Those don't currently appear to be on the auction block, either. VW's continued involvement in the HD truck segment was announced as part of the brand's TOGETHER - Strategy 2025 plan, in which Volkswagen outlined plans to push further into vehicle electrification and vehicle autonomy. Related Video: News Source: Asphalt & RubberImage Credit: Malte Christians/AFP/Getty Earnings/Financials Audi Lamborghini Volkswagen Motorcycle Performance Ducati Scania

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: