Super Sport Car: Super Sports Cars

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Lambo 4dr saloon is back on

Lamborghini looks set to give the Estoque four-door the green light for production above an SUV project.

Chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann revealed last month that the firm is again considering adding a third model to its range. Now he has told Autocar that his preferred option for the new car is a four-door, distancing himself from internet speculation that the firm is preparing a super-luxury SUV as an indirect successor to the LM002 off-roader.

See pics of the Lamborghini Estoque saloon concept

“We have opportunities outside the supercar business, and we showed that with Estoque,” said Winkelmann. “It had a more enthusiastic response than we had expected. It was the right time to see if the brand could go outside of supercars. Even now, people are still emailing me about us making the Estoque.

“We really have a choice when it comes to an additional model: an SUV or a four-seat four-door. And for me the SUV is a no-go. It doesn’t exist in our price segment, and it’s not a real luxury car.”

Winkelmann said a four-door in the mould of the Estoque could attract new buyers to Lamborghini by offering a more practical proposition than the company’s two-seaters. “There are more opportunities in the segment of four-doors,” he said. “If we are going to offer a third model, it could be a ‘first’ car, bringing people to our brand.”

Read more on Lambo's plans to revive the Estoque

The choice of a four-door is almost certainly also linked to Lamborghini’s improving fortunes in China, where luxury saloons are enjoying strong sales. But Winkelmann insisted the increasing importance of new markets would not affect the core values of the Lamborghini brand.

“Other car companies have to adjust their products for these areas,” he said, “but luxury brands are the opposite. The customer wants the original, not something that’s been adapted to them. So they want a Lamborghini exactly as it would be in Italy.

Lancia Stratos Coupe

The new Stratos is part-developed by Pininfarina and based on the Ferrari F430 Scuderia

The Scuderia’s chassis is shortened by 20cm in the wheelbase and a roll-cage is added

This Stratos’s playful agility is a satisfyingly dominant characteristic

It turns in with high-precision zeal

Within a couple of laps the tight corners uncover a car that can be steered with the throttle

The Stratos has been set up to be more reactive – but it’ll be less forgiving if you get it wrong

The nimble handling and eager speed make an immediate impact

Also superb is the standard of finish, from the flawless carbonfibre to the stitching in the dash

If you remember the Stratos howling through forests 30 years ago, it may prove irresistible

The quality of the interior - in particular, the dash - is pleasing given this is a one-off

New Stratos
Price: na; 0-62mph: 3.3sec; Top speed: over 187mph; Weight: 1247kg; Economy: na; CO2: na; Engine: V8, 4308cc, petrol; Power: 532bhp at 8200rpm; Torque: 369lb ft at 3750rpm

Renault Megane RS250

It's also interesting to note that apart from the Renault Megane sedan, the Focus is the only other European engineered and built 1.6 litre car in the The last Focus set a benchmark in its class, and the new sedan has been developed to expand the Focus' reach even beyond its better mknown three and five door siblings, even if the cabin space is the same as offered by the five door hatchback, boot aside. From the rear three quarters, the Focus sedan comes across as crisp and discreet, with triangular rear lamps that make it look like a scaled down Mondeo, an important point in status conscious Asian markets. What has also helped is that the new Focus has leaner and more elegant lines and these lend themselves better to a four-door sedan than the aggressively bold styling of the previous model.

The first thing one notice about the sedan is that it looks well proportioned and neat, unlike the last model, which looked like it had its boot grafted on as an afterthought. Perhaps it is because, unlike the previous Focus, the new one especially this saloon version is targeted at the Asian markets. Why would Ford showcase its best-selling European model in Asia before its world premier in Europe? It launched the Focus range at the Paris Motor Show in late September last year, but the prototype Focus Concept, a thinly disguised Focus sedan, was actually revealed three months earlier in June at the Beijing Motor Show.

Ford has done things a little differently with the new Focus, especially the four door sedan model.