Let Them Eat Tariffs Is New Corporate Mantra in France
French business executives are days away from facing up to the final number of what is politely known in the lexicon as an 'asymmetric' trade agreement: The new tariff rate that will be imposed by the Trump administration on European goods, from plane engines to cars to wines, without a response in kind going the other way. Considering the US's recent hardball threats of as much as 30%, the mood in Paris is curiously calm.
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lamborghini Temerario test drive: $380K hybrid supercar delivers mind-boggling performance
Lamborghini's (VWAGY) latest creation, the Temerario supercar, has some big shoes to fill. Let me rephrase that — the 900hp, all-wheel drive, plug-in hybrid Temerario with a 10,000 RPM turbo V8 has some big shoes to fill. Che cosa? That's because it's replacing the much-loved Huracán: the outgoing serpent-like, alien-looking creation equipped with a sublime, yet ferocious when needed, naturally aspirated V-10 engine. The Huracán was amazing. But times are changing. Around a year ago at Monterey Car Week, Lamborghini unveiled the Temerario, which loosely translates to 'reckless' in Italian. The long-in-the-tooth Huracán — which, believe it or not, is over 10 years old and shared some underpinnings with sister brand Audi's R8 — needed a refresh. Lamborghini also sold 30,000 units of the $250K+ Huracán, its best-selling car ever. In other words, it couldn't mess this up. And with changing rules like emissions and electrified propulsion needed in certain European locales, hybrid power was needed. Lamborghini knew it had to convince buyers this wasn't a 'green' thing — it's about performance. It did this convincingly with the Revuelto, its range-topping supercar that combines a V12 with a hybrid system, using electric motors more for performance than range. Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today! Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You The Insurance Savings You Expect Great Rates and Award-Winning Service Lamborghini's CEO Stephan Winkelmann notes the car is completely new from top to bottom, including, of course, the new powertrain. It has to be exciting, he says, but also livable. Lamborghini seems to have threaded that needle, at least for now: The car is sold out through its first year of production, he said, which is a nice start for the brand. The drive I took the Temerario on the track for a few sessions to put the car through its performance envelope. Styling-wise, it's a sleek, attractive car that fits the mold of what regular people envision when they think of a supercar. It's wide, low-slung, and angular. Not as extreme as the Huracán, but sexy in its own right. The rear is more interesting, with its fully exposed V-8 engine out back and fenders with wide cut-outs exposing the car's bulging rear tires, a nod to motorcycle design. One area the Temerario vastly improves on the Huracán is the interior. Better materials all around, better infotainment and instrument cluster digital screens with nice animations —and more space owing to slightly larger dimensions. Fewer buttons is not a welcome change, though it seems most of these functions are now controls on the steering wheel. On the track is where it all comes together. With its hybrid system, the Temerario features two motors powering each front wheel individually, giving the car true torque vectoring. That means the wheels can spin and apply force independently on their own. This also means that, while the rear wheels are powered by the monster V8, the front wheels can provide force at different times, like during an aggressive turn, keeping the car's line true and giving extra assistance around corners. Traction is of course improved as well. So handling-wise, the car feels a lot smaller than it really is, which makes even the most aggressive track easier to deal with. But true heart of the beast is its twin turbo, flat-plane-crank V8 motor. Combined with the two motors up front and one sandwiched in between the 8-speed transmission, the Temerario has a mind-boggling 900hp on tap. The engine alone is a marvel, able to spin up to 10,000 RPM. It is designed to keep pulling to that red line. Usually, most motors will start petering out at those heady levels. This allowed the Temerario to hit ungodly, panic-inducing speeds on the straightaways of nearly 200mph, which then meant going hard on the brakes, and then into the next curve without losing it. Those front motors really helped get the car back on the proper race line if you braked too deeply into the first turn, for example. The car allowed me to string faster lap after faster lap in succession, giving me confidence to push harder into every turn, and brake later. Yes, it is overall a better car than the Huracán when it comes to aggressive track driving. And I'm sure it's a perfectly livable car too — meaning, in theory, you could take it around town to run some errands — though I didn't get the chance to drive on local roads. But I have a few complaints, believe it or not. The loss of the Huracán's V10 really hurts from an emotional point of view — the sound of the 10-cylinder revving higher is intoxicating. Yes, the Temerario at 10,000 RPM screaming down the straightaway does give you that emotional kick, but most owners will not be pushing the car anywhere near that mind-boggling limit. Most owners will be driving around town or on some nice backcountry roads. And though I said it was subjective, the styling for me is a bit too toned down too, at least compared to the outgoing Huracán. For a car that starts at $382,654 in the US, we would like more of a wow factor. Lamborghini isn't done with the Temerario Lamborghini won't sit idly when it comes to special or updated versions of the Temerario. Performance models with aggressive styling and enhancements to the powertrain may mean more exciting versions could be coming. This is all part of the game plan. And some buyers actually prefer the base models of Lamborghini's creations because they are the purest form of these vehicles. But, finally, I have to ask: Could we see a Temerario special edition combining a non-turbo screaming V8 with those trick electric motors up front, or one with an aggressive, race car-like aero package? Pras Subramanian is the lead auto reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram. Sign in to access your portfolio
Wall Street Journal
24 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
‘Our Dear Friends in Moscow' Review: Propaganda and the Press
In September 2020 Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two of Russia's leading investigative journalists, fled to the West. For years they had been watched and harassed by their country's security services, and by that spring Mr. Soldatov's life was in danger. Neither of them could have imagined this would be their fate when they started out as young reporters in 2000. Having come of age in the 1990s, they had believed that they belonged to a new generation of Russians who were committed to democracy and human rights, only to see their friends reject these ideals in favor of authoritarianism and anti-Westernism. 'Our Dear Friends in Moscow' is a searing and sobering book that captures the profound cynicism and xenophobic nationalism that define contemporary Russia. 'Our Dear Friends in Moscow' tells two interconnected stories. One is intensely personal and recounts the relationships among Mr. Soldatov, Ms. Borogan and several fellow journalists: Evgeny Krutikov, the scion of a once-elite Soviet family; Petya Akopov, an intellectual with a fascination for repressive regimes; Zhenya Baranov, a war correspondent; and Olga Lyubimova, a TV host with connections to the reactionary film director Nikita Mikhalkov. In the early days, their differences seemed unimportant. They worked and socialized together. They partied, drank, smoked and debated the 'accursed questions' about Russia's troubled past and murky future. Things changed once Russian president Vladimir Putin began to suffocate the independent media and civil society in the early 2000s. For a while it seemed that the regime would allow liberal journalists some space in which to work. 'Many believed that this coexistence could last for years and that one day Putin would just be gone,' the authors write. Then, they add, 'things would go back to 'normal'—whatever that meant.' But Mr. Putin did not go away, and the repression intensified. Mr. Soldatov, Ms. Borogan and their friends had to decide whether to resist and join the opposition or to surrender and join the Putin propaganda machine.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
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Borrowing costs set to ease further as Bank contends with weaker jobs market
Borrowing costs are set to ease further as the Bank of England contends with stagnant growth and rising unemployment, experts have predicted. Most economists think the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4% on Thursday. It could release pressure for some mortgage holders amid hopes that cheaper deals will enter the market if the Bank's base rate is lowered further. Interest rates have been steadily cut over the past year from a peak of 5.25%. Economists think a slowdown in the UK jobs market could prompt the MPC to ease monetary policy. Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the rate of UK unemployment increased to 4.7% in the three months to May – the highest level for four years. And average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, slowed to 5% in the period to May to its lowest level for almost three years. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said earlier this month that the Bank would be prepared to cut rates if the jobs market showed signs of weakening. Furthermore, ONS data showed the UK economy contracted in both April and May, further putting pressure on policymakers to ease borrowing costs. Andrew Goodwin, chief UK economist for Oxford Economics, said it would be a 'major surprise' if the MPC does not cut interest rates on Thursday. 'With pay growth continuing to cool and Bank rate still well above the level that most committee members would consider to be neutral, it would be a major surprise if the MPC didn't cut Bank rate by another 0.25 percentage points on August 7,' he said. However, he said it is unlikely that the committee will speed up its pace of interest rate cuts over the rest of 2025, as signs of a slower pace of job losses 'significantly reduce the urgency of the situation'. Furthermore, some policymakers may be more concerned by recent inflation data, with prices rising at the fastest rate in 15 months in June. Rising food inflation has put pressure on the overall rate in recent months. Jack Meaning, an analyst for Barclays UK, said he was expecting rates to be cut to 4% but that there was likely to be a 'three-way vote split' amongst the nine-person MPC due to 'different interpretations of the recent flow of data'. He predicts two members voting to keep the level at 4.25%, and another two opting for a larger 0.5 percentage point cut. But he said a 'lack of smoking gun' in relation to recent data could motivate committee members 'in the middle ground to remain gradual, careful and non-committal' in relation to rate cuts. Sign in to access your portfolio
