Best of the Beijing Auto Show

If your big gas guzzler has been having diesel fuel pump or diesel injector problems and you are in the mood to get rid of the big vehicle and downsize to something sporty than the Beijing Auto Show was the place for you. The show has come and gone, and it brought some great new sporty cars. The vehicles in the show were either geared towards improved fuel economy or edgy designs. 

The biggest head turner at the show was the Lamborghini Urus.  Executives at Lamborghini expect the Urus to more than double all Lambo sales.  The car may be named after an extinct cow, but it surely will move more like a cheetah with an estimated 600 hp under the hood. The Urus won Autoweeks top honors at the show.

BMW’s i8 Concept Spyder was also a show stopper.  This topless two door is actually a plug-in.  Looks like Tesla has a competitor for high class plug-in.  You’ll be able to go 0 to 62 mile per hour in 5.0 seconds while still getting 75 miles per gallon.

One of my favorite looking cars from the show was from a Chinese car manufacturer, Jianghuai Automobile Company.  The JAC Heyue SC Coupe has styling that is classic but not too overdone.  The one area the car is lacking is in its guts. It only has a 162 hp 2.4L engine. 

Lamborghini Finally Unveils SUV at Beijing Auto Show

Lamborghini has been hinting for awhile now that it was considering either a sedan or a crossover for its third model line, and the answer is finally here: a crossover named the Urus. While it may end up with a supercharger (and hopefully avoiding parent company's Volkswagen Jetta turbocharger), you can bet it will still be extremely fast. Urus is the name of a Spanish breed of bull that is known for both its fighting size and hauling size. They are known for having broad shoulders and being taller than most. While I’m not sure the attribute of extra height applies in this metaphor, the Lamborghini Urus is certainly a broad, sleek, powerful, and beautiful crossover.

 The first thing you’ll notice about the Urus is that, despite being a crossover, it still thankfully looks like a Lamborghini. Its super aggressive lines and low structure create an image that is distinctly Lambo. The Urus will be a 4x4 with over 600 HP, stretching over eight inches longer than an Aventador and costing over 200k. They project sales volume to be about 3,000 per year which will triple Lamborghini’s annual production.

 

Press releases state that the production model will be available in 2015 and that they are trying to make it powerful but less polluting. By 2015 European high-performance cars will need to be able to emit no more than 200 grams of CO2 per km in order to pass recent regulations so the Lambo will have to be somewhat eco-friendly
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A big help in this department will come from shedding as much weight as possible using light and strong materials in construction in lieu of metal. Even the interior will be optimized for lightness. Steering will be electro-mechanical and the range of travel adjustment on the suspension will be 3.5 inches.

 Fifty percent of sales are projected for the U.S. The Urus wil hunker down to a minimum height of 65.4 inches with a width of 78.4 inches. The 196.5 inch current length is matched to a wheelbase measuring 114 inches. Four passengers are said to have plenty of room inside, even with head room in the back seat.

What do you think of the new Lamborghini Urus? It is still awhile off before production models start circulating, but it seems to keep in step with previous Lamborghini design and ethos. Do you think Lamborghini should keep to the fast supercar market?

Lamborghini SUV

Somethings should just not happen.  Such as, going on a long road trip with kids without a DVD player, or trusting my mom to find her way without a car navigation system.  Another example of “something that should happen” is that high performance car companies should not make SUVs. Well, news came out today that Lamborghini is doing just that.  

The rumors have finally been confirmed by a senior source at Audi that the Lamborghini SUV is indeed, in the works.  Unlike their old giant LM002 that went out of production in 1993, this SUV will be a much smaller crossover. The car has no official name yet, but the project goes by LB 736.
 

The gossip started when an Italian magazine wrote a story and posted renderings of what the vehicle might look like.  The car in the magazine borrows the styling of the Aventador, and looks like the platform could be that of the Audi Q7.

Speculation is that the LB736 will have a version of the Gallardo’s 5.2 Liter V10, and boasts 700hp.  There is no way that your kids will arrive late to soccer practice in this SUV.  The size of the engine means that this Lamborghini will have no competition. No other high performance SUVs even come close to 700 horses.

Some Lamborghini traditionalists are going to wish this had never happened, and honestly I do not know how I feel about it.  I do have a lot of time to decide though, because the car is not going to go on sale until 2015.  I also have a lot of saving to do, because it is going to cost upwards of $200,000.