Orange must be the hot color this season because both Aston Martin and Lamborghini chose this bright hue to showcase their newly fortified 2025 SUVs. The Aston Martin DBX 707, an upgrade model currently, will be the sole version for 2025, featuring the 697-horsepower engine and a host of enhancements. Lamborghini, meanwhile, follows a different route for its Urus super SUV, making a new plug-in hybrid the top model, called the SE. The new hybrid powertrain kicks up a storm with 789 horsepower.
While hurricane season is just starting, Lamborghini Huracán season is ending after 10 years. Lamborghini is sending the car out with a special track model, building just 10 examples. The Huracán’s plug-in hybrid replacement is likely to be much more powerful than the outgoing model. That’s just the start of the “electrifying” news sweeping through the upper part of the premium car segment. It looks like gas engines will stick around for a while, but there will be more plug-in hybrids coming, and, yes, even an all-electric Ferrari.
Lamborghini has had trouble attracting customers from the Witness Protection program, and the Murciélago Roadster is one reason. The absolute antithesis of “blending in,” the open Murciélago was even more extroverted than its coupe sibling, if only because now people could easily see who was driving this 42-inch-high supercar. The $320,000 Murciélago Roadster came with a rudimentary top that made fair-weather driving more appealing than dealing with the annoyance of rain showers. The Barrett-Jackson collector-car auction in Scottdale, Arizona in January 2024 is offering a black 2006 Murciélago Roadster at no reserve.
Closing in on the end of another year, Premier Financial Services looks back on its Top-10 exotic cars leased for 2023. This year, Ferrari pushed Porsche out of the #1 leased marque for the year in terms of volume of leases. Lamborghini, however, made a stronger showing on the list with three models in the Top-10. Porsche’s two top sports cars, the 911 GT3 and 911 Turbo S, both made the cut, as well. With its new MC20, Maserati has returned to the mid-engine exotic category after a 45-year absence. The new Maserati grabbed the #10 spot on the list. What’s your favorite?
While Porsche competes in the realm of super-fast electric vehicles with its Taycan Turbo S, that battery-electric car doesn’t have a turbo, or even an engine, for that matter. But it does have a sibling in the Porsche family with a 640-horsepower twin-turbo engine for real: the 911 Turbo S. Boosted with even more power two years ago, the 911 Turbo S delivers breathtaking acceleration, tenacious road-and-track handling, and top luxury in coupe and Cabriolet (convertible) styles, starting around $230,000.
While EVs may grab headlines with their acceleration performance, the latest gas/electric hybrid supercars throw down the gauntlet with some track-burning speed and excitement. The early tests of the Ferrari 296 GTB and Lamborghini Revuelto show that, with a little help from electrons, cars with roaring engines can still melt the asphalt … and blow their drivers’ minds. Though far apart from each other in price, the Ferrari and Lambo make the same emphatic point about the still-thrilling potential available from cars with pistons and pipes.
Lamborghini has entered the electrification era with its first plug-in hybrid, a 1,001-hp hypercar called the Revuelto. Named for a fighting bull that decided to bolt from the ring 143 years ago, the new Lambo shows a rowdy spirit with three electric motors unapologetically teamed with a 6.5-liter, gas-fueled V12 that parties like it’s 1970. Sharpened stealth-jet design could only come from Lamborghini, while new “monofuselage” carbon-fiber construction keeps strength high and weight reasonable. Reports say it’s already sold out for the first two years.
When Lamborghini puts the “Performante” badge on a vehicle, you can be sure it’s the hottest version and ready for some track thrills. The Urus Performante lives up to that badge’s promise, but at a cost in both extra dollars and reduced comfort. This carbon-fiber-festooned hooligan is meant for pavement only. For Lamborghini purists, having an exotic SUV with plenty of room that also thrills in track driving might be worth the sacrifices the vehicle demands.
You can’t get a manual transmission from Ferrari or Lamborghini today, but collectors are willing to pay hefty premiums for their last stick-shift models. This trend specifically applies to the cars that offered the choice between the real manual and the “robotized” manual, which Ferrari called F1 and Lamborghini called E-Gear. Today, a Ferrari F430 with the stick-shift can command a 100% premium over the F1 model. Some independent shops are even providing conversions back to full manual transmissions. Is that a wise purchase?
