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Raging bull: Lamborghini sells record number of vehicles in 2015

3 February, 2016

You know the world is doing OK when Lamborghini announce that they’ve sold more cars in 2015 than any other year in the last 53 years, with their 2015 total hitting 3245 vehicles. According to the company this number stands to grow with the addition of the Urus, a supercar crossover with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. Lamborghini expects to sell around 3000 units of this vehicle each year alone, which will double their already impressive sales record.

As part of the Volkswagen Group, Lamborghini have some of the lowest sales figures, with only Bugatti coming in lower, due to the production of multimillion-dollar production vehicles. Even Bentley sell 11,000 units a year, blowing Lamborghini out of the water. Ferrari are currently selling 7000 units a year, which is double that of Lamborghini.

With this many more Lamborghinis floating around, I wonder if we’ll get more press vehicles?

 

Motorman: Blame it on Rio!

22 May, 2025

Following the third polite advisory, I figured there had to be a fair degree of substance to the warning. “If this is your first visit to Rio de Janeiro, please be careful,” came the personal hushed dialogue from the pleasant hostesses on a far from crowded Varig flight from Los Angeles to the famous Brazilian seaside city.
The previous evening I had flown into LA from Auckland en route to the 1985 international launch of the Fiat Uno Turbo. I was prepared for another long haul of just under 12 hours across Mexico, central America, Colombia, and central Brazil to that nation’s third largest city. Surprisingly the 10,500km run from Los Angeles to Rio is actually longer than the 8800km LA-London air route.
With the journey including a brief stopover in Honolulu I expected to travel just under 44,000km for the return journey to sample what was to be a low-volume version of a popular Italian car that would sell in even lower numbers in New Zealand. I like to think this shows nothing more than my deep commitment to my craft. In fact, even though I became lost on the homeward journey my total air miles would be little different.

Pinnacle Porsche

15 May, 2025

We were stopped at the side of the road, setting up the next photograph, when a faded Toyota slowed alongside and stopped. The window was already down to give the driver a good look.
“That’s my dream car,” he said, speaking for more than a few of us.
He drank in the gleaming red paint, shining in the sun, and the car’s purposeful swoops and curves. He exhaled half a lungful of cigarette smoke, gave a hang 10–style thumbs up and drove off.
On the side of the road, against a clear blue background, the Porsche stood out in all its stark red glory. It’s the classic 911 shape on steroids. It has the fat, even pouty, front lip of the G series 911s, added to comply with 5mph bumper restrictions in the US. It also has the oversized haunches to accommodate the wider rear wheels and tyres – a first for Porsche, which also confirmed its supercar credentials – and, most noticeably of all, that enormous whale-tail spoiler. They made it look as if Porsche had abandoned its restraint.