Lamborghini celebrated a sales milestone recently, with total sales for all Murcielagos (including LP640’s) reaching 3000. The 3000th Murcielago was a pale Telesto grey Murcielago LP640 headed to a lucky owner living in the United States.

Just a few weeks ago Lamborghini also celebrated the milestone of the Murcielago surpassing the sales figures for its predecessor, the Diablo, which sold 2903 models in a production run of 11 years. Lamborghini has been selling the Murcielago since 2001, taking just six years to surpass the sales figures for the Diablo, demonstrating how the supercar market has grown and just how much demand has grown for Lamborghini’s in the past few years.

The Murcielago isn’t quite finished yet. Word on the street is that it will come in for its final bow with the Super Veloce (SV) version that will see Lamborghini strip out the interior and replace it with carbon fibre, including the door innards, seats and center console. It’s also likely to be RWD only so additional weight can be saved by removing the front differential and driveshafts.

Lamborghini has been experiencing record sales for its entire model range, with sales of 2087 cars in 2006 being 30% higher than in 2005. In 2007, 2400 vehicles have already been delivered and so it looks like another record year for Lamborghini.
Via: AB.it

The newspaper clipping has been on my desk for two weeks. I look at it and dream.

The article, written by Warren Brown of the Washington Post, details his experience traveling to the tiny Italian village where Lamborghini, the prestigious car manufacturer, makes many of the world’s most expensive and extravagant vehicles.

Brown’s journey takes him by invitation to Sant’ Agata Bolognese where his mission is to test drive (with the supervision of Lamborghini officials) what is generally considered the world’s most expensive new car.

The author vividly explains his experience. Before driving, he’s a passenger in the vehicle while it’s driven adeptly by engineer Mario Frasinetti. Then, it’s Brown turn, and he “jets” around in one of only 20 Reventons, some still scheduled for production.

The Reventon is a 650-horsepower, 12-cylinder supercoupe with a six-speed automated manual transmission. It has a sticker price of $1.45 million and is rated at accelerating from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) in 3.4 seconds. Its gas mileage is rated at 7.5 mph in city and 15.5 on the highway.

All of the Reventons have been sold — 11 in the United States, seven in Europe and two in Asia.

Brown thoroughly enjoyed his test drive. He likely won’t forget the experience, nor likely will anyone elseo fortunate it enough to have the same opportunity.

If we believe our source, Autoblog.nl, there’s a serious chance that Lamborghini is going to produce 80 more Lamborghini Reventóns. As we all knew Stephan Winkelman (CEO of Lamborghini) said on the worldpremiere at the IAA in Frankfurt that only 20 exclusive pieces would be build from this 1 miljoen euro supercar. The only reason for that production increase would be the numurous interested buyers. One negative point sofar, is the exclusivity to the first 20 pieces, which will lose a lot of their status when suddenly 100 Reventóns are cruising our streets… 2008 will probably give us further details on this rumour.

 

 

Michael Woodhead meets Wendelin Wiedeking and explains why he is our Businessman of the Year

SITTING on his pristine Porsche tractor ploughing his potato field, Wendelin Wiedeking looks every inch a south German gentleman farmer. Watching him in his local tucking into his schnitzel, drinking Pils beer and joking with the landlord that a buxom barmaid would draw more business than the two waiters he employs, you would be convinced of it.

Wiedeking has attracted many epithets in his life and Herr Dr Wiedeking the Jolly Farmer would be among the mildest. He is better known as the Rambo of the German motor industry, the man with the sharp tongue and swift temper whose oft-repeated phrase “you had better take care” is not a sign of comradely concern but carries the same overtones as Don Corleone making someone an offer he can’t refuse.

” He is a man who has never known failure.”
“I am sometimes very hard, also on myself. Otherwise I’m not the type to sit in the corner and whine when something goes badly,” he said. “I sometimes shout – but never without reason. When I find out that someone hasn’t done what they told me they would, then I take action. I don’t have trouble calling a spade a spade.”

Read the rest of this very interesting farmer who saved Porsche into revival.http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article3107376.ece

Maybe this approach to business is what has earned him the right to Business Man of the Year.
This story can say the same about the of owner Ron Sturgeon owner of DFW Elite Auto Rental, DFW Elite Car Club, and DFW Elite Toy Musuem.

Here’s something to watch for future growing.

New Zealand Hearald

Motoring Story

5:00AM Sunday December 30, 2007
Bang & Olufsen and Aston Martin have announced a “creative and strategic partnership at the top of the premium sector”.

Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s chief executive, describes the association between the companies as a landmark collaboration between two market leaders.

“Without technological innovation, neither Aston Martin nor Bang & Olufsen would have achieved the reputation they have today as leaders in design and performance,” he says.

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Rolls-Royce 101EX concept car

Car company executives, especially those of the luxury brands, will be looking ahead to 2008 with more than a little trepidation. The reason is simple: while nobody could have predicted the scale of the so-called credit crunch, nor the financial storm that we are told threatens to engulf western civilisation, many more nimble industries will be able to take some measure of action to insulate themselves.

Car companies, however, will not. Like massive oil tankers, changing direction is not easy for these lumbering firms. Many of their strategies and product line-ups for 2008 were decided years ago, not least because bringing new models to the market - from drawing board to forecourt – can easily take five years.

The result is that just as the rest of the world is tightening its collective belt and battening down the hatches for the year ahead, high-end car companies are committed to launching some of the fastest, most expensive and flamboyant cars ever seen. For petrolheads such as 50 Cent, the American rapper who has given previously staid marques such as Bentley and Rolls-Royce a bling boost, this is something of a bonanza. However, for those whose livelihoods depend on selling such cars, there will be eerie reminders of the early 1990s when a raft of super-exotic cars designed in the heady last days of the 1980s bull market reached a public that was no longer in any mood to receive them. From the McLaren F1 to the Jaguar XJ220 and Bugatti EB110, all were financial disasters for their creators.

To make matters worse, car makers must also contend with the European Union. This year it announced plans to impose swingeing fines on manufacturers of cars that do not meet strict CO2 emission targets, which will become law in 2012 – not far off in car-making terms.

But for now at least we can look forward to that unprecedented stream of fast and luxurious cars that were designed back in the days when CO2 was a by-product of school chemistry experiments, and will find their way on to these pages during 2008.

We start, appropriately enough, with Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Their offerings for 2008 are both coupés and will undoubtedly be the most expensive closed cars that either manufacturer has ever put into mainstream production.

Bentley will be first out of the blocks in the spring with its 500bhp Brooklands coupé based on the Arnage saloon, while Rolls-Royce will follow in the summer with a closed version of its critically acclaimed Phantom Drophead Coupé.

Expect the Bentley to cost £230,000, making it an apparent bargain compared with the Phantom coupé, which seems certain to cost more than £300,000.

Their parent companies are not going to have a quiet 2008 either. Volkswagen, which owns Bentley, will not only launch a new Scirocco coupé, but its subsidiary Audi will bring the outrageous RS6 to market with a 580bhp engine, making it the most powerful estate car ever offered for sale. The RS6 will sit alongside the new TTS, the most powerful and dynamic version of the TT ever to go on sale. Audi might also reveal the next step intended for its ultra-successful R8 supercar, which is expected to involve bolting a 520bhp Lamborghini V10 motor into the engine bay and changing its name to R10.

Meanwhile, BMW, which owns Rolls-Royce, will be readying the X6 for sale. By far the most sporting SUV ever to wear a BMW badge, it hopes to combine coupé style with off-roader practicality in a package that, with a new 408bhp 4.4 litre twin-turbo engine, will give the Porsche Cayenne the fright of its life.

BMW will also introduce the saloon version of the new M3 and a convertible roof for the 1-series coupé.

It’s going to be a quieter year for Mercedes-Benz, but it is still planning a little powerplay of its own. Next year will bring us new AMG versions of both the C-class saloon and SL sports cars, with a little less and a little more than 500bhp respectively.

There will be the all-new CLC sports coupé and, lest we forget, that monument to all that is excessive in the automotive world – the convertible Maybach Landaulet. No wonder the German government (as well as the individual car makers) is protesting to the EU over its emissions law.

The Japanese are not to be outdone, either. There are three supercars waiting in the wings, only one of which, Nissan’s incredible-looking 473bhp GT-R, has been confirmed.

As quick as a Porsche 911 Turbo, yet likely to retail for not much more than half the price, it has already become a cult car among the automotive blogging community, despite the fact that not a single unit has yet to make it to these shores.

And 2008 should be the year that Lexus finally puts its LF-A supercar into production, more than three years after its concept was first shown. Powered by a 5 litre V10 engine and capable of more than 200mph, if the speed it has shown in testing at the Nürburgring racetrack is any guide, it should be one of the most exciting cars of the year.

But the big question is whether it will have the replacement for the Honda NSX as a rival. According to Honda insiders, the car is finished and ready for production but Takeo Fukui, the chief executive, is waiting for some success to come from the marque’s Formula One programme before revealing the car. After this year’s disastrous season, he will be hoping for a complete turnaround in fortune, or it could easily be 2009 before the long-awaited NSX is finally revealed.

This is not the end of sporting new Japanese cars for 2008 by any means. We will be reporting on the Lexus IS-F, a rival to the BMW M3, in February, and shortly after that, on both the high-performance STi version of the new Subaru Impreza WRX and, perhaps most anticipated of all, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, the 10th in a line of world-beating Mitsubishi all-wheel-drive saloons.

Mazda is also due to launch a new version of its successful and impressive RX-8 rotary-engined coupé.

Back in Europe, Ferrari isn’t talking about its plans for 2008, but the gossip about a new, small, front-engined Ferrari to rival the Aston Martin V8 is far from idle and the biggest question about it now seems to be when it will appear, rather than if.

Porsche is keeping mum too, but it’s fair to expect a substantial reengineering of the 911 at some stage next year, one that will most likely include a twin-clutch, paddle-shift transmission.

In the UK, Aston Martin is certain to put at least a few examples of the V12 Vantage RS into production. Packing a 600bhp engine derived from its Le Mans racer, it will be by far the fastest Aston ever made, and the most exciting with it.

Quite what Jaguar and Land Rover will unveil in 2008 will be determined by their new owners, whose identity will be announced imminently.

But while Land Rover looks set for a quiet year, Jaguar will be going all-out to establish its new XF saloon in the marketplace. We might even see the XF-R super-saloon that’s set to rival the BMW M5 thanks to its supercharged 500bhp V8 motor.

All in all, then, 2008 looks set to be one of the highest octane years on motoring record. The only question now is whether there will be enough buyers out there with the spare cash to enjoy it.

… and for the family man

Away from the glitz and the glamour of the supercars, sports cars and high-end luxury machines, there are some rather less flamboyant but eminently useful bread-and-butter machines also going into production.

Following on from the successful launch of the 2007 Mondeo, Ford will probably have the busiest year. In 2008 it will put on sale an all-new Fiesta and, after more than a decade in production, it will also be replacing the much-loved Ka.

They will be joined by the Kuga SUV, the four-wheel-drive crossover vehicle that will be about the same size as a Focus and was first unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September.

The year will also see the exciting arrival of the new Citroën C5, which seems to be one of the most interesting and imaginative mainstream family car designs since the firm’s DS model of the 1950s. If it is even close to being as good to drive as it is to look at, its success will be surely deserved.

Other important launches include the Vauxhall Insignia, which replaces the Vectra, all-new successors to the Honda Jazz and Accord, Audi’s mid-sized Q5 SUV, a new Mercedes-Benz E-class, and the Hyundai i10 city car, which, at less than £6,500, could be a steal when it goes on sale in March.

In short, it’s going to be one of the busiest years on record. We’re looking forward to every last minute of it.

Want a New Year’s Resolution! Forget the resolution that everyone does and none can keep. Make a resolution your going to keep like I’m going to increase my fun and excitement. Rent a different exotic car or luxury car from DFW Elite Auto Rental. They also have other city locations. So no mater where you are at you can keep your resolution. Have Fun!

I love the creativity of young minds get this neat Automotive Car.

What a great new idea to add to the DFW Elite Toy Musuem.

	News: Auto Express News
Forget carbon fibre, a group of environmentally conscious students want us to build supercars out of wood!   30th December 2007 We’re all for using green materials on cars – but surely making a supercar out of wood is barking up the wrong tree?A group of students from the US has come up with this Bugatti Veyron chaser, the Splinter. The chassis, body, wheels and parts of the suspension are all made from wood, although the 600bhp V8 engine is constructed from more traditional materials. The students want to make the world think about using more eco-friendly materials.

Posted Dec 30th 2007 10:04AM by Jonathon Ramsey
Filed under: Convertibles, Coupes, Mercedes Benz

If this is an accurate depiction of the 2009 Mercedes CLK, all we can say is, well, we’re disappointed. Not because it’s a bad looking car, because it isn’t. But was it Aston Martin or VW that started this trend of creating the same car in different sizes? If it was Aston, they’ve only got three models (for now), and they’re playing in a smaller, hand-stitched leather arena, so we’ll let them go. But for the mass market folks — where did design differentiation disappear to?

This could be a much smaller CL. Or a slightly smaller 2-door E-Class. Or a larger, 2-door C-Class. BMW appears to be doing the same thing with the 2009 7-Series, the renderings of which look like a massive and slightly bloated 3-Series. We have no doubt this will sell well, if it is indeed the new CLK, especially as it gives the coupe a much-needed sharpening. The creases do this car a far better service than they do the current S-Class. Still, we wouldn’t mind a little more imagination being applied across the drawing boards.

[Source: The Hollywood Extra]

Though I like the Mercedes collection of cars, I prefer to go to DFW Elite Auto Rental for a wide array of exotics and luxury including Mercedes. Look at their collection:

Mercedes CLS500	Mercedes SL500	Mercedes CLK320
Mercedes SLK55 AMG	Mercedes ML430	Mercedes S550

We write about so many cars every year that we sometimes forget when we are dealing with a clutch, where the turn signals are, how to adjust the outside mirrors, how to use the navigation system, or just how suddenly a particular car can lurch forward with a push of the gas pedal.

And yet, the variety is a wonderful constant.

It also prompts a wide range of e-mails from readers. Often, they want to know if a car is suited for New England driving. For example, will it climb a steep driveway in Brookline or a long road in ski country? Or, if it’s small and has all-wheel drive, does that make it easier to park in the South End in winter?

Others can’t tell where I come down on SUVs.

And many wish I would do more reviews of hot cars and efficient cars, or big cars and small cars, or hybrids. I try to do them all. This year, the range of cars I tested - from exotic to eclectic to solid to efficient - made it difficult to come up with a list of favorites. But here’s about a dozen good ones for the road:

‘08 Chevrolet Malibu

General Motors Corp. introduces a Malibu in reborn form - at its upper end, the Malibu now features a cockpit that is like an old Corvette’s. Four- and six-cylinders available, superb interior finish, and distinct outer lines. Prices range from $19,000 to $28,000.

‘08 Saab Aero Sport/SportCombi XWD

A classic for New England drivers, this Saab features an all-wheel-drive system that, combined with stability control, made it virtually impossible for me to toss it off a test track in Sweden. Simulated ice, wet corners, gravel, nasty potholes, sudden lane changes - they were all no problem. Expect to pay from the mid-20s to the high 30s.

‘08 Land Rover LR2 SE

Some call it a baby, I call it a baby bull. It has more off-road capability than most folks will ever dare attempt to use, and it’s reasonably priced - mid-30s to low-40s.

‘08 Porsche 911 GT2

Here’s where we get fanciful. I drove it on the Daytona International Raceway and watched the track before me vaporize - this is the first 911 to top 200 miles per hour. And as I said in the review, the $200,000 price amounts to only $1,000 per mile per hour.

‘08 Audi R8

This is the other fanciful beast on this year’s list, an all-wheel-drive, world-class sports car that is imaginatively designed. The looks are stupendous, and its power - from an under-glass mid-mount engine - reaches 420 horsepower. The R8 is as balanced a car as you will find. Priced from $110,000 to more than $130,000.

‘08 Volvo C30

A great move by Volvo in an attempt to capture a younger crowd. This nifty, swift hatchback (the hatch being a retro look from the 1970s), is available from the mid-20s to around $30,000.

‘08 Mazda CX-9

Roomy, fun, powerful, and sporting. And it’s not a minivan, not a sports sedan, not an SUV. It’s up to you to decide just what kind of car this is after you’ve driven it. It took me a while. Prices start in the mid-30s and top $40,000.

‘07 MazdaSpeed3

The wild child of the Mazda fleet, this is a serious street-legal burner right off the assembly line. Great lines, great handling, and very reasonably priced, starting below $25,000.

‘08 Infiniti G37S Coupe

Another great model in a growing line of coupes. The appearance is aggressive, and so is the handling. But the G37S isn’t too aggressive when it comes to taking your money - prices start at about $35,000.

‘07 Kia Rondo Ex

This car will comfortably seat five to seven, has a base price just over $17,000, and comes loaded with standard safety features that include electronic stability control, front, side, and curtain airbags. Not terribly powerful at 182 horsepower, but that’s still plenty for many folks.

Royal Ford can be reached at ford@globe.com.

I hope he has your car listed his list. What do you think? If you are looking for another option for 2008 try a Car Club. DFW Elite Car Club offers the Exciting or Exotic? Options for 2008. They host a garage full of every thing from Aston Martin to Rolls Royce.