Lamborghini auto news

Report: Arrinera supercar born out of Polish Lamborghini replica? [UPDATE]

If you thought it seemed a little odd that Poland - a country without much of a history of producing exportable cars - would suddenly come out with a high-performance supercar, well... we're afraid you may be right. Because the latest reports out of the Eastern European country suggest that the Arrinera project is nothing more than a reclothed replicar.

Arrinera, as you may recall, is a project to build a supercar in Poland. Specifications recently hit the interwebs, indicating a $160,000 list price and a 6.2-liter V8 with 650 horsepower driving the rear wheels through a Graziano gearbox for a 3.2-second sprint to 62 and a 211 mph top end.

Now reports coming out of Poland - citing a certain Jacek Balkan who seems to be the Slavic version of Jeremy Clarkson - are calling the whole project into question. According to the word on the Warsaw boulevard, the people at Arrinera took a Lamborghini replica made by another Polish outfit called Bojar Tuning and gave it a new skin. Interior components were reportedly borrowed from the Opel Corsa and late-90s Audi A6, all in an effort to raise funds on the stock market.

The question we're left with is, if the project started as a replica but now has its own design and identity, should its humbler beginnings matter? If the specs are right and legendary chassis tuner Lee Noble is involved, the Arrinera could still emerge as a winner. Of course, we'd have to drive it in order to tell for sure, but we've got some openings in our calendar coming up...

UPDATE: Arrinera has hit back with a itemized denial of Jacek Balkan's reported allegations. It insists that its product is not, in fact, based on the Lamborghini replica made by Bojar, and that it does not borrow any more components from production vehicles than you'd expect to find in other supercars made by small companies like Pagani, Wiessmann, Noble, Artega or Gumpert. For a translated version of the full legal document, click here.

Report: Arrinera supercar born out of Polish Lamborghini replica?

If you thought it seemed a little odd that Poland - a country without much of a history of producing exportable cars - would suddenly come out with a high-performance supercar, well... we're afraid you may be right. Because the latest reports out of the Eastern European country suggest that the Arrinera project is nothing more than a reclothed replicar.

Arrinera, as you may recall, is a project to build a supercar in Poland. Specifications recently hit the interwebs, indicating a $160,000 list price and a 6.2-liter V8 with 650 horsepower driving the rear wheels through a Graziano gearbox for a 3.2-second sprint to 62 and a 211 mph top end.

Now reports coming out of Poland - citing a certain Jacek Balkan who seems to be the Slavic version of Jeremy Clarkson - are calling the whole project into question. According to the word on the Warsaw boulevard, the people at Arrinera took a Lamborghini replica made by another Polish outfit called Bojar Tuning and gave it a new skin. Interior components were reportedly borrowed from the Opel Corsa and late-90s Audi A6, all in an effort to raise funds on the stock market.

The question we're left with is, if the project started as a replica but now has its own design and identity, should its humbler beginnings matter? If the specs are right and legendary chassis tuner Lee Noble is involved, the Arrinera could still emerge as a winner. Of course, we'd have to drive it in order to tell for sure, but we've got some openings in our calendar coming up...

Video: Bugatti Veyron, Lexus LFA, McLaren MP4-12C and Lambo Aventador in 1/4-mile shootout... who wins?

Automobile Magazine scribe Jason Cammisa was sent into the desert to referee four carbon-fiber-bodied wild animals fighting it out over the quarter mile: the V8 McLaren MP4-12C, the V10 Lexus LFA, the V12 Lamborghini Aventador and the W16 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. It's a tough job, innit?

The Head 2 Head race was run elimination style, with the winner of each two-up challenge facing the next devil up the totem pole. Although you might not have any doubts about the eventual victor, how each of these supercars fared is good watching. See all the screaming for yourself in the video below.

Continue reading Bugatti Veyron, Lexus LFA, McLaren MP4-12C and Lambo Aventador in 1/4-mile shootout... who wins?

Report: Lamborghini eyes low weight, Audi-sourced twin-turbo V8 for production Urus

Long before Lamborghini unveiled the Urus concept for its new SUV at the Beijing Motor Show last month, we got two chances to preview the show truck: once at the factory in Italy and once at a private preview in New York. The Italian automaker's development chief Maurizio Reggiani wasn't prepared to talk about powertrain options at the time, but in speaking with Automotive News, he's now given us a hint of what to expect should the Volkswagen Group board give the project the green light.

As expected, the Urus would have to be based on the same platform that is slated to underpin the next Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Bentley EXP 9 F (if similarly approved) in order to make good business sense. Unfortunately, that new PL73 architecture is made principally of steel, a material that Lamborghini has been getting away from in favor of new types of carbon fiber construction. In order to keep weight down - Lambo is targeting 4,400 lbs for the Urus, significantly less than its potential competitors - it would need to make other components out of carbon to compensate.

That covers the mass side of the power-to-weight ratio that is integral to any performance vehicle. As for the power, Reggiani says the company has yet to make a final decision. The last time Lamborghini made an SUV - the legendary LM002 "Rambo Lambo" - it was powered by the same high-revving V12 as the Countach, lending to speculation that the Urus could incorporate the new V12 from the Aventador or the V10 from the Gallardo. Reggiani, however, indicates that the new twin-turbo V8 powering the latest Audi RS models and the Bentley Continental is a more likely choice, given that it would help keep weight down and provide more low-end torque than the naturally-aspired 10 or 12-pots the Raging Bull marque currently produces for its sports cars.

Video: Lamborghini Gallardo driver shows how not to gun it at a light

You are the driver of a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo, and you've been waiting at a traffic light for something like an entire minute. That glowing red orb of light has been the matador's crimson cape to your bull, taunting you, holding you back, making you very, very angry. So crush the gas pedal a few times and let your V10 snort for all to hear - when the light turns green, everyone's going to know you are not to be toyed with.

You get the green flag and drop the hammer... and all of a sudden you - and two motorists in the oncoming lane - wish you could take it all back and do it all over again. Softly this time. Have a look at the Lamborghini video below for a guide in how not to take off from a light. The action starts at 0:40.

Continue reading Lamborghini Gallardo driver shows how not to gun it at a light

Report: Lamborghini Aventador Roadster to use removable roof panel?

Forget cloth, the upcoming Lamborghini Aventador Roadster will use a removable two-piece carbon fiber hardtop, according to the Italian magazine Quattroruote.

The weight-cutting measure means the convertible won't have to stack on the pounds just to include al fresco driving. The carbon fiber roof will weigh less than a cloth top and its underlying metal frame. It also means that the entire rear section of the car won't change from the hardtop model, Quattroroute reports.

We first saw the hardtop in spy photos published in February, though we weren't sure of Lamborghini's plans for the 700-horsepower V12 racer at the time. Lamborghini is expected to debut the roadster at the Paris Motor Show this fall.

Followup: Guy Fieri's stolen Lamborghini found in teen's storage container

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. A Lamborghini stolen from celebrity chef Guy Fieri has been found a year after it first went missing. In case you need refreshing, the Lambo was pilfered by a thief who literally rappelled off the roof of a building in order to get access to the Italian Stallion.

It seems the perpetrator had a thing for stealthy operations - the vehicle turned up during an investigation that began after a motorcyclist wearing all black fired a gun into a parked car. The gunman was a 17-year-old boy, and Fieri's car was located in a storage container in Point Richmond, California, along with the boy's motorcycle and apparent evidence linking him to the shooting.

Fieri, for his part, is happy to have his Lamborghini back:

"I would like to thank the Marin County Sheriff's Office and the Mill Valley Police Department for their hard work and effort in the recovery of my car. I'm glad we can put this behind us, and feel better knowing that justice is being served."

Video: Lamborghini gives us one last glimpse at the one-of-a-kind Aventador J

Jaws dropped last month in Geneva when Lamborghini took the wraps off the Aventador J. Looking like the bastard love-child of an Aventador coupe and a KTM X-Bow, the Aventador J packed the same 700-horsepower V12 into a visceral roadster body.

The fleeting beauty and startling reality of it, however, is that Lamborghini only made one. It reportedly sold for $2.74 million and went home from the Palexpo with an unnamed collector. So if you missed your opportunity to see it in Switzerland, the closest you may ever get is with the video after the jump.

Continue reading Lamborghini gives us one last glimpse at the one-of-a-kind Aventador J

Video: Watch a vintage Lamborghini Cheetah SUV promo

Lamborghini was in the off-road business before the cult classic LM002, cooperating with MTI on a military vehicle concept dubbed Cheetah in the mid-seventies that it hoped to sell to the U.S. armed forces. The 4,500-pound, fiberglass-bodied troop carrier used a 5.9-liter, 180-horsepower Chrysler engine mounted in back. Hardly Cheetah-like, the vehicle delivered lackluster performance and didn't handle well.

Even worse, it was a badly translated copy of a vehicle already made by another firm, which landed MTI and Lamborghini in court when the Cheetah was revealed at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show. The U.S. military tested the sole prototype and totaled it.

Perhaps this is the worst part: the Cheetah was such an expensive failure for Lamborghini that it was one of the reasons the company was unable to follow through on its commitment to BMW for the M1 project.

And with that history lesson digested, you'll get even more wry satisfaction from the narrator's dialogue in the Cheetah promo video, which you'll find just below.

Continue reading Watch a vintage Lamborghini Cheetah SUV promo

Report: Lamborghini trademarks Hurac'an

Lamborghini is on a bit of a naming spree. Back in April, it was revealed that the Italian automaker (and hopeful SUV maker, too...) put its legal stamp on the names Urus and Deimos, the first of which, as you're likely aware by now, is the moniker adopted for the concept version of its future sport utility vehicle.

Deimos, on the other hand, has yet to grace any bullish Italian supercars, at least none shown to the public, so we're curious to see where that ends up. Muddying waters even further is a report from Car and Driver that Lamborghini has also recently trademarked the name Huracán.

Huracán, in case you hadn't made the connection yourselves, is the Spanish word for hurricane, but it's also the name of a Mayan god of fire, wind and storms, according to C&D. That dovetails nicely with Deimos, which was the name of a terrifying mythological Greek god.

What either of these as-yet unused names has to do with Spanish bulls or matadors (if anything), we have no idea. We also can't say with any certainty what future Lambos, concept or production, will be graced by these names. But we certainly look forward to finding out.