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Lamborghini trying its best to keep new Cabrera under wraps

The Gallardo was far and away Lamborghini's most successful model. Over the course of ten years, the Bolognese automaker sold some 14,000 of them. As the Gallardo has now reached the end of its production cycle, Lamborghini is hard at work developing its replacement, and these are the latest spy shots of the work in progress.
Now wearing swirly camouflage instead of the flat-black wrap spied on previous prototypes, this latest version is our best glimpse yet at the supercar expected to be called Cabrera. Despite the more disguising wrap, though, the contrast between bodywork and air vents is more evident - particularly between the side window and the rear wheel, where this prototype appears to be sporting a panel similar in appearance to the "side blade" on the Audi R8 (with whose replacement the Cabrera is expected to share much). However, this is more likely a bit of disguise to throw us off the scent. Don't be thrown by the headlamp treatment, either. It may look like a Photoshop product, but our photographers on the ground tell us these translucent screens are just another diversion - as if you couldn't tell this was a Lambo from a mile away.
As for technical details, we're still expecting a reworked version of the outgoing model's 5.2-liter V10 driving all four wheels, only retuned to the tune of 600 horsepower. A dual-clutch gearbox (similar to the excellent unit newly installed in the R8) is tipped to transmit the power instead of the six-speed manual or robotized gearboxes in the outgoing Gallardo or the rapid but unrefined ISR transmission in the Aventador. Expect weight to be trimmed thanks to Lamborghini's further experimentation with carbon fiber production techniques, helping the Cabrera do better than hold its own with newer, fresher competition like the Ferrari 458 Italia and McLaren 12C.

Super-rare Lamborghini Miura SV Jota promises to break records

The prototypical mid-engined exotic, the Lamborghini Miura is fast becoming a collectors' favorite. While they were trading hands at around a quarter of a million dollars less than a decade ago, prices have been skyrocketing, with the last few examples to go up for auction trading at over a million. But this particular example is expected to fetch well over $2 million when it crosses the block later this month. That's because this is no ordinary Miura – it's an SV Jota, one of only five or so originally made by the factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese. A pet project of the company's Kiwi test driver Bob Wallace, the Jota project was meant to explore what would happen if Lamborghini went racing. Old man Ferruccio wasn't interested though, and the original Jota prototype was destroyed. Word soon got out, however, of the Jota's modifications, and a handful of customers sent their Miuras back to the factory to be upgraded to Jota specification. With so few Miuras built to Jota specification, it's rare to see one trade hands. The last one we saw actually sell at auction went for $1.15 million in October 2010, but this particular example is estimated to rake in between $2 million and $2.6 million at RM's upcoming auction in Arizona on January 15-16. In fact, the last time this particular one crossed the block, it failed to sell despite a high bid of $2 million. Chassis number 4892 was initially ordered new from the factory as a Miura SV in 1971 by a customer in Rome in white with a blue interior. Within the following three years, it returned to the factory for Jota upgrades, and was then sold to a customer in Japan where it resided until moving to the US in 2007, taking top honors at the William K. Vanderbilt Jr. Concours d'Elegance in Rhode Island. Despite its excellent condition, it underwent a comprehensive two-year restoration, and its authenticity has been certified by numerous experts, including by the late Bob Wallace himself. If it sells this time around, data from Sports Car Market tells us it will smash the record for Miuras and challenge even the $2.5 million paid for a Reventon in 2009 and the $2.16 million paid for Bertone's one-of-a-kind Lamborghini Marzal concept in 2011 to take its place among the most expensive Lamborghinis ever sold. Featured Gallery 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV Jota #4892 View 31 Photos News Source: RM Auctions, Sports Car MarketImage Credit: Sean Smith/RM Lamborghini Auctions Supercars Classics rm lamborghini miura

Lamborghini's path to the future is paved with forged composites

As far back as 1983, Lamborghini has been researching carbon fiber for automotive use. The automaker felt confident enough in its ability to work with the high-tech material in 1985 that a team led by Maurizio Reggiani, now the Lamborghini Board Member in charge of Research and Development, crafted a revolutionary Countach with a chassis made almost entirely of hand-laid carbon fiber. The result was spectacular in that the car's chassis weighed about half of its all-metal counterpart. It turned out that first foray into carbon fiber was just as spectacular when it was finally tested for crashworthiness, but in a completely different way. Catastrophic would be an appropriate word, according to Paolo Feraboli, who now leads Lambo's brand-new Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. Proving how far Lamborghini has come since that ill-fated carbon-fiber Countach Evoluzione, Feraboli told us during the ACSL's grand opening that today's Aventador, which boasts a high-tech carbon chassis, aced its very first crash test in 2009. Chalk that success up to high-tech computer modeling and the practical application of lessons learned over several decades of trial and error. The dull red monocoque of that crashed Aventador now hangs on the wall at the ACSL like a functional piece of art, a reminder of Lamborghini's cutting-edge milestones of the past. Lamborghini's future will be hewn from what the company calls forged composites. First seen on the stunning Sesto Elemento Concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the patented carbon-forging process forgoes hand-laid sheets, injected resins, and high-heat autoclaves. Instead, wads of randomly oriented carbon fibers that sort of resemble the kind of dough you'd use to make pasta undergo a three-minute press inside a mold. The resulting parts are just as strong as other carbon-fiber bits, but can be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost. While it's true that cost is often a secondary consideration for high-end supercars, it's still relevant. By reducing the cost and increasing the scale of composite pieces, Lamborghini can then afford to spend more money on other parts of the car. It's not just body panels and chassis components that Lamborghini thinks it can build using forged composite technology. The Sesto Elemento featured forged-composite suspension control arms that haven't yet made it into production, but probably will soon.