Following its official debut in Geneva the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 has given its next stage performance at the New York Auto Show. While using the original 5-year old, and top selling, design of the Gallardo as an influencing template Lamborghini set off to make an all new car that would result in an all improved Gallardo LP560-4. The wider rear and lowered snout combining with the minimalist lines of the shell of the Gallardo LP560-4 do nothing to reveal the new chassis, new engine and all new 4 wheel drive transmission.

The number signature of the Gallardo LP560-4 seem a bit odd for Lamborghini but they are directly derived from the specs. from the car. The “LP” comes from the “Longitudinal Posterior” of the rear engine. The “560″ comes directly from the number of horses being produced by the new 5.2 liter V10 engine. The “-4″ represents the number of wheels being turned by the four-wheel drive transmission of the car. Rather than change the name from a model that has sold 7100 vehicles from the Lamborghini factories, and since Gallardo-2 or Gallardo “The Next Generation” are a bit cheeky, the designation LP560-4 must have seemed simple enough.

However, tucked within the details provided by Lamborghini in their Official Press Release is the secret detail that will be sending this Gallardo LP560-4 flying out of the factories. With their new V10 and despite a 3.2 second zero-to-sixty-two rating, the Gallardo LP560-4 has reduced its Carbon emissions by 18% from its prior model. That gives the Gallardo LP560-4 a CO2 rating of 327 g/km with the paddle shifters or 351 g/km with the manual transmission. ….Okay, so they are not Prius numbers, but what could you expect?

For more details on the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 check out the full photo gallery, the marketing video and the very lengthy and extensive Official Press Release provided by Lamborghini that follows.

There is a lot of talk in the media and among economists about the decline of the US Dollar; a looming economic recession; the decline of the housing market and yet despite all there there are still some people with a bit of play money burning a hole in their pocket. Lamborghini has been the benefactor of some of that play money in 2007 as they achieved a record year in sales.

For 2007 Lamborghini sold 2,406 cars, which  was a 15% increase over 2006 total of 2,087 cars sold. There turned out to be 1,000 people in the US with some play money that opted for a new Lamborghini in 2007. Europe accounted for 959 of the total cars sold in 2007.

Lamborghini is not alone in having a banner sales year. Bentley, Rolls Royce and Ferrari have all had exemplary years in sales. That is a significant contrast to the year the domestic auto market had in 2007. Ford lost it’s #2 seller in America ranking to Toyota, and GM too is bracing for Toyota’s invasion on the #1 spot.

Maybe to protect themselves from reprisals by angry American automotive employees new Lamborghini owners should get a bumper-sticker that says, “my other car is a domestic.” Ofcourse we would all know that is a lie, but all they will need is a split seconds delay in-order to get away.

The top gas guzzlers of the 2007 model year read like a veritable who’s who of high end automotive performance. In fact the top seven gas guzzlers of the year are all high performance cars - not a Hummer or SUV in sight. That’s not to say, of course, that the behemoth from GM has suddenly become a green icon. The gas guzzler list for 2007 merely reflects the fact that as horsepower goes up fuel economy generally heads in the other direction.

Of course the price tags of the top seven gas guzzlers on our 2007 list indicate the fuel costs are not the primary considerations of the owners of these fine tuned machines. After all, those who can afford a Lamborghini, a Ferrari or a Bentley are unlikely to fret over the high cost of gasoline.

Those of us with more pedestrian tastes and more limited fuel economy may need to take a hard look at the true cost of our wheels, but for now sit back and take a look at the gas guzzling ways of these high end cars.

This week at the Frankfurt Auto Show Lamborghini put on display their latest answer to the Super Car world. Ofcourse some might argue that a Murcielago is Super Car enough and already priced at Super Car pricing. Well leave it to Lamborghini to want to one-up themselves by creating an ultimate version of their Super Cars in the Reventon.

While there is a certain panache that comes from being a person that can just cut a check for whatever he wants, there are others who see savings in leasing and can find better uses for that upfront cash. It is not all about holding the title to the car as much as it is having the keys.

A recent article in the New York Times discussed some of the advantages of leasing exotic cars that those who could still afford to do otherwise are choosing over that cash purchase. Luckily there are a few companies now specializing in providing those leases once the leaser has plunked down 20-25% of the purchase price for a down payment.

After already increasing the fee to drive high CO2 producing cars to the equivalent of $25 the leaders of London are considering another increase. If their new plan goes into effect it will be costing gas guzzling Londoners what would amount to a daily fee of $50 U.S.

London is charging hard against their congestion issues and pollution concerns. The hope is that by charging such an exorbitant amount they will be able to discourage some people from further adding to the traffic on busy city streets. In turn they hope it will encourage people in London to use the Mass-Transits available or drive smaller, less polluting cars.

Now who would drive a car like this?

2005 LAMBORGHINI MURGIELAGO E-GEAR ROADSTER

Color Chrome “Yes! Chrome!” with Black leather interior with Grey contrasting stitching, Black carpeting, E-gear, 20” wheels, Celebrity owned.

Details:

Year: - 2005
Make: - Lamborghini
Mileage: - 1414 miles
Engine: - 12 - Cyl.
Transmission: - Automatic
Exterior: - Chrome
Interior: - Black

Well this man is in the money, so much so, that he even has money in his name, the owner of this vehicle was a certain Mr. Cent, or as he is commonly known 50 cent.

This is a really cool car, in a brilliant chrome finish, which the picture do not really do justice to, the car is one of the most eye-catching car that you are likely to be seeing for sometime.

As you can imagine the in car entertainment is probably mind bending and it maybe a good ideas not to turn the volume up before turning it on, otherwise you could end up with a sonic boom.

This car was chrome not that long ago, about a year I think, so there are probably no blemishes or marks on it yet. Though obviously that will more than likely change when the buyer begins to drive around in it.

At the moment the current bid is at $225,300.00, and the reserve has not been met yet, by any of the four interested parties. However the auction is set to finish on the 9th August 2007 at 15.08 PDT, so you have plenty of time to get your bid in.

Source [Top Speed]

Take six super cars, a 15,500 ft long Naval Air Station runway and a mission to hit 200 mph from a standing start, all makes for a high octane, adrenalin fueled contest.

The Road and Track team got together a Lamborghini Murcielago, Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren, Ruf RT 12, Lingenfelter Corvette, Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and last but not least the Hennessey Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper. Just a few cars off the street no doubt!! The cars were as they come, not race prepared cars and no special tires etc.

With one driver taking to the wheel, the test would be a straight forward blast from a standing start, and take it as quickly as he could to 200 mph, but there was a two mile marker which is the point where the driver would have to lift off and begin to slow right down.

Lamborghini Murcielago 0 to 200 mph, only managed to hit 190.1 mph by the two mile limit.
Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren 0 to 200 mph, did not reach 200 mph (199.5 mph) by the two mile limit.
Ruf RT 12 0 to 200 mph in 35.5 seconds.
Lingenfelter Corvette 0 to 200 mph in 26.5 seconds.
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 0 to 200 mph in 24.2 seconds.
Hennessey Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper 0 to 200 mph in 20.3 seconds.

So there you have it, the Hennessey tuned Viper is the winner, by quite a large margin. It is a bit of a surprise in the spread of speed and times set, considering that all the cars above, claimed to have a top speed in excess of 200 mph.

Source [Road and Track]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=34&article_id=5679