Lamborghini has officially been neutered...

[Mr. B]

Rich hippies buy the Prius because it's obvious and ugly... the kind of car you can make a "statement" with. It's not as easy to distinguish the Hollywood douchebag in a Lambo and the Hollywood douchebag in a hybrid Lambo.

In any event, two engines in one car is just stupid. We made fuel efficient cars 40 years ago... would make a lot more sense to just further the efficient gasoline engine than slap two shitty engines in one vehicle.

 

[msbae]

Sorry, but if making a 4-door prototype has neutered Lambo in any way, it happened long, long ago. Here's a rare pic of a 4-door Countach concept from back in the 80s.

http://www.ibeatyou.com/competition/939e53/craziest-car/entry/8f00da/4-door-countach

My God, that prototype Countach is UGLY! What a sin against the Car Gods that vehicle was...

If Lambo can make a car that can still get the accelerations and top speeds they're known for and it be a hybrid then I say more power to them as that's fucking awesome.

Electric vehicle technology is nowhere near that point yet.

You'd think they'd learn from the 'mistake' that Dodge (supposedly) made when they put the Charger name on a 4-door car in 2006...

What's to learn? Those make BAD-ASS police cars, and they probably sell tons of them that way.

I know. I agree that the Charger is quite bad ass. Yet, many people didn't like that it had 4 doors. I don't care though. If anything, it would make my Muscle Car a bit more practical.

Rich hippies buy the Prius because it's obvious and ugly... the kind of car you can make a "statement" with. It's not as easy to distinguish the Hollywood douchebag in a Lambo and the Hollywood douchebag in a hybrid Lambo.

In any event, two engines in one car is just stupid. We made fuel efficient cars 40 years ago... would make a lot more sense to just further the efficient gasoline engine than slap two shitty engines in one vehicle.

Preach on, Brother B!

 

[FordSVT]

If Lambo can make a car that can still get the accelerations and top speeds they're known for and it be a hybrid then I say more power to them as that's fucking awesome.

Electric vehicle technology is nowhere near that point yet.

It's not an electric vehicle, it's a small electric motor(s) assisting a V10 or V12 gasoline motor.

Rich hippies buy the Prius because it's obvious and ugly... the kind of car you can make a "statement" with. It's not as easy to distinguish the Hollywood douchebag in a Lambo and the Hollywood douchebag in a hybrid Lambo.

In any event, two engines in one car is just stupid. We made fuel efficient cars 40 years ago... would make a lot more sense to just further the efficient gasoline engine than slap two shitty engines in one vehicle.

Right, because they've done nothing in the past 40 years to further gasoline engine efficiency and they're going to stop all research in that area with new hybrid models? Or do you just think they'll be able to pull a 3.0L 500 hp gasoline engine that gets 30 mpg from out of nowhere?

 

[Mr. B]

Right, because they've done nothing in the past 40 years to further gasoline engine efficiency and they're going to stop all research in that area with new hybrid models? Or do you just think they'll be able to pull a 3.0L 500 hp gasoline engine that gets 30 mpg from out of nowhere?

That's not my point. The Prius gets about 50 MPG ideally. It makes a lot more sense to just design an efficient internal combustion engine to match or exceed that rather than manufacture a car with two powertrains.

 

[Davros]

This is just a case of a company adjusting to the changing consumer demographic.

 

[Geckothan]

This is just a case of a company adjusting to the changing consumer demographic.

So more hippies are buying cars than before?

 

[FordSVT]

Right, because they've done nothing in the past 40 years to further gasoline engine efficiency and they're going to stop all research in that area with new hybrid models? Or do you just think they'll be able to pull a 3.0L 500 hp gasoline engine that gets 30 mpg from out of nowhere?

That's not my point. The Prius gets about 50 MPG ideally. It makes a lot more sense to just design an efficient internal combustion engine to match or exceed that rather than manufacture a car with two powertrains.

But it will have less horsepower.... and people aren't willing to sacrifice performance up to a certain point. Hybrid electric motors and batteries allow vehicles to recapture braking energy, as well as energy from the gas motor, and convert it into forward momentum. It allows the vehicles to operate using no gasoline at all up to a certain speed, when in drive-throughs and at stop lights. They decrease overall fuel consumption during the life of the vehicle, which some feel is worth the additional costs of ownership. The additional weight is more than compensated for by the increased efficiency. Automotive manufacturers constant work to improve the efficiency of their internal combustion engines, and whether they are hybrids or not they will all benefit from that innovation.

Current hybrids have problems. They are expensive relative to their gasoline counterparts and when you break down the fuel savings versus traditional power trains they still take many years and many miles just to break even. The batteries, their longevity and production methods are still debatable. They're added complexity to the system. Most of these issues can be mitigated by increased production. If all vehicles were hybrids, for example, there probably be a negligible difference in cost between a 2.0L 4 cylinder hybrid and a 3.0L gasoline engine that made the same effective power.

I do think they are a worthy stopgap measure until we can produce fully electric cars with the same performance, range, and flexibility as current gasoline and diesel engines.

 

[Johnny Rico]

First, someone dares to create a prototype Lambo with 4 doors...

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/four-door-estoq.php

Porsche has done the same thing.

http://img.worldcarfans.com/2008/11/large/official-porsche-panamera-leaked-images_1.jpg

 

[Ptrope]

You'd think they'd learn from the 'mistake' that Dodge (supposedly) made when they put the Charger name on a 4-door car in 2006...

Do you mean the fact that Dodge has sold more 4-door Chargers than all the previous 2-door ones put together? Or the fact that the SRT-8 will both out-accelerate and out-handle the original Chargers by a country mile? The 4-door Charger is actually smaller than the original Charger; sure, it's not as pretty, but all around, it's a much better car, and they're restyling it for 2011 to look considerably better.

Or the loss of performance prestige suffered by the Ford Thunderbird when it became a full-size 4-door car in 1958... Dumbasses.

Even though the 1955-57 T-birds are my favorites, Ford didn't lose any prestige - nor any sales - by adding a back seat; if they hadn't, the T-Bird wouldn't have made it to 1960. If anything, it lost any performance 'prestige' it had when they brought it back as a retro cruiser a few years ago, and thoroughly watered down the idea. It was all show and little go, despite the underpinnings it shared with the Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type, and now it's dead for a much longer period of time than its last 'hiatus,' most likely.

As for a Lambo hybrid, if they can make it perform like its gas counterpart, what's the big deal? That's a pretty positive argument for a company that started out building tractors ...

 

[msbae]

You'd think they'd learn from the 'mistake' that Dodge (supposedly) made when they put the Charger name on a 4-door car in 2006...

Do you mean the fact that Dodge has sold more 4-door Chargers than all the previous 2-door ones put together? Or the fact that the SRT-8 will both out-accelerate and out-handle the original Chargers by a country mile? The 4-door Charger is actually smaller than the original Charger; sure, it's not as pretty, but all around, it's a much better car, and they're restyling it for 2011 to look considerably better.

Or the loss of performance prestige suffered by the Ford Thunderbird when it became a full-size 4-door car in 1958... Dumbasses.

Even though the 1955-57 T-birds are my favorites, Ford didn't lose any prestige - nor any sales - by adding a back seat; if they hadn't, the T-Bird wouldn't have made it to 1960. If anything, it lost any performance 'prestige' it had when they brought it back as a retro cruiser a few years ago, and thoroughly watered down the idea. It was all show and little go, despite the underpinnings it shared with the Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type, and now it's dead for a much longer period of time than its last 'hiatus,' most likely.

As for a Lambo hybrid, if they can make it perform like its gas counterpart, what's the big deal? That's a pretty positive argument for a company that started out building tractors ...

Many enthusiasts swore up and down that a 4-door Charger was a mistake. It made a lot of them very angry. I personally disagree with them. I think it makes the car much more practical. I really wish Ford hadn't screwed the Thunderbird so badly... That car was always just too damn cool for school, even after losing it's performance abilities when gaining a back seat.