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Stop everything, and appreciate the Lamborghini Miura's mechanical beauty

Everybody knows the Lamborghini Miura is one of the greatest automotive designs of all time. It's also known that the Miura's V12 heart is one of the greatest powertrains of all time. But there's more to a car than just the body and the engine. Celebrating the intricacies of manufacturing, Artist Fabian Oefner took his disintegrating cars series to new heights by using a real 1972 Miura SV to create stunning photos of the remarkable internals of the historic Lamborghini. In the past, Oefner has created fantastic museum-quality images by using scale model cars and suspending their parts to look like explosions of mechanical goodness. This Miura, however, is the real deal. A collector and friend contacted Oefner to suggest that a full restoration of the car would be a perfect opportunity to photograph the vehicle and create a life-sized version of his Disintegrating Cars series. The results are absolutely breathtaking. The original idea of the series was an exploration of time and reality. Oefner takes each part and suspends it from above to create an exposed three-dimensional examination of the car. Using a real vehicle, however, was a much different process. Creating his work in his studio was a calming and centering process for Oefner, whereas working on a real Lamborghini was much more time-sensitive and much more involved, with several mechanics working on the car. Such a complicated and involved procedure created a special bond between artist and subject. "At the end of the process, you know every single detail," Oefner said in the video above. "It's more like it's a person, if you want to say so. Every time I see the car, it's like, 'Oh, I know you!'" The art, which took two years of work and photography in the Sant`Agatha Lamborghini factory, allows enthusiasts to know the car better, too, as the final product uses 1,500 parts. See more detailed photos of the art and the work on Fabien Oefner's portfolio site. News Source: Fabien Oefner, Lamborghini Design/Style Lamborghini Coupe Performance Supercars Classics Videos lamborghini miura

Volkswagen Group sales down 15% in pandemic year, but EV sales up 214%

FRANKFURT, Germany — German automaker Volkswagen said its global sales fell 15.2% during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but showed significant recovery toward the end of the year. The company more than tripled its sales of battery-only vehicles. Global sales for all of Volkswagen's brands amounted to 9.3 million vehicles. The fourth quarter showed a smaller decline of 5.7% and within that quarter the month of December was still further improved, showing a shortfall of only 3.2% from the same period the year before. Volkswagen said Wednesday that sales fell the most in Western Europe, by 21.6%, while China, the company's largest single market, was down 9.1% Sales of battery-only cars jumped 214% to 231,600 from 73,700 across all the company's brands. The company's electric sales leaders included the Volkswagen ID.3 compact, with 56,500, the Audi E-Tron SUV with 47,300, and the high-end Porsche Taycan with 20,000. Volkswagen said that its sales fell by less than the overall market, meaning it had slightly expanded its market share. “The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 an extremely challenging year,” said group sales chief Christian Dahlheim. “The Volkswagen Group performed well in this environment and strengthened its market position." Volkswagen Group's brands include Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, SEAT, and Skoda as sell as truck makers MAN and Scania.

Lamborghini struggles to cap its own production to maintain brand exclusivity

Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, and so on demand high prices, and that's not just because you’re buying incredible performance, technology and luxury. YouÂ’re also buying exclusivity. Recently, however, Wall Street and shareholders have been pressuring supercar makers to produce more cars and yield more profits. The problem is that higher production volume compromises exclusivity and dilutes the brand. So while LamborghiniÂ’s shareholders want the company to produce more cars, executives are seeking to impose limits and cap production. "We must not go on growing forever. We now have to consolidate these results and preserve exclusivity," Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali told reporters at an event inaugurating the companyÂ’s newest paint and body shop at the SantÂ’Agata Bolognese plant in Italy. The execs are having limited success, however, as the company announced that it plans to sell more than 8,000 cars this year, which is “the right dimension of our company with our current product portfolio,” Domenicali said. A run of 8,000 cars would be an increase of 39 percent from 2018's total of 5,750 new Lambos. It has been a strong decade for Lamborghini; a mere 1,302 vehicles were sold back in 2010. However, that goal of 8,000 could swell to around 10,000 cars, depending on whether the company adds another model to its small lineup. Such a case would have to be deliberated among shareholders. Lamborghini saw considerable growth in the first quarter of this year, likely attributed to the launch of its Urus SUV. So far, analysts are forecasting an increase in revenue to around 1.7 billion euros, or $1.92 billion USD, up from 1.42 billion euros or $1.6 billion USD in 2018, said Chief Financial Officer Paolo Poma. At the same event, Lamborghini confirmed that an electric supercar is not in its future at this time as “customers are currently not interested,” Poma said. However, Lamborghini is indeed seeking to add hybrid vehicles to its lineup by 2025, as itÂ’s pressured to lower CO2 emissions and meet future mandates. The Urus is expected to be one of the cars receiving a hybrid powertrain, as it is not planned to get a V10 or V12 engine.