#millionaires

Originally slated for first-ogling at March’s Geneva Motor Show, Pagani shared its new Huayra Roadster with the world a month early, which keeps in with the Italian supercar tradition of if you’ve got it, flaunt it.

As with the hardtop, the Huayra ‘vert uses a carbotanium monocoque but comes with a removable glass targa top and some performance improvements made on the molto speciale Huayra BC. That means the roadster keeps the coupe’s seven-speed sequential gearbox and the 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 from AMG, but receives a bump in output to 754 horsepower and 738 ft-lb of torque.

Volkswagen confirmed today that reports of a facelifted Phaeton are true. Tomorrow and on Saturday, the press can admire the car at the Beijing Autoshow. From April 27 to May 2, the remaining 1.3b Chinese will be able to get a first look, and decide whether the car fits in their purchasing plans.

Eight years after the Phaeton was launched in Germany with great fanfare, and four years after it was pulled from the US market due to being a resounding sales flop, a face-lift has been long overdue. “Usually, one would expect a whole new generation after eight years in production,” complained Germany’s Focus Magazine. Not a whole lot has changed at the outside. But the on-board electronic weaponry has been escalated to a level that soon will put JSTARS to shame.

As you are reading this, worker bees in the employ of Volkswagen are putting the last touches on a revamped model of the venerable Phaeton, overtime be damned. When everything is in Ordnung and the Spaltmass (panel gap) is as tight as a vise, the Phaeton will be loaded on the next Lufthansa freighter, and – eat your heart out, Jack Baruth – it will be flown to Beijing. As China Daily has it, “Volkswagen AG is speeding up a face-lift of the $88,000 Phaeton sedan in time to unveil the model at the Beijing auto show and target China’s millionaires.”