Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly known as Lamborghini, is a manufacturer of high performance sports cars based in the small Italian village of Sant'Agata Bolognese, near Bologna. more...

The company was founded in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) as a spin-off from his very successful tractor factory, Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A..

Ferruccio Lamborghini was an enthusiastic owner of sports cars, including a Ferrari. There are several versions of why Lamborghini started his company, all of them involving a conflict between himself and Enzo Ferrari. The most likely version, one that has been corroborated several times, is that Ferruccio Lamborghini met Enzo Ferrari at a party, and, naturally, the talk drifted to sports cars. Lamborghini pointed out a few things in Ferrari's designs which he did not agree with. Ferrari, a notorious hothead, got apoplectic. "If you don't like the way I build my cars, why don't you go build one in that tractor factory of yours."

Featuring bodies designed by Franco Scaglione, Touring of Milan, Zagato, Mario Marazzi, Bertone, ItalDesign, Marcello Gandini and Luc Donckerwolke, Lamborghini's cars are not only amongst the most expensive and powerful road-going vehicles made, but are also amongst the most stunning and impressive in appearance. Contrary to a frequent misunderstanding, Ferruccio himself never was a bullfighting supporter but loved Bulls and was a Taurus, which explains why most models have a name somehow related to bulls.

Models

Lamborghini's products include the 350GTV (1963), 350GT (1964), 400GT (1965), Miura (1966), Flying Star II (1966), Marzal (1966), Espada (1968), Islero (1968), Jarama (1970), Countach (1974), Bravo (1974), Silhouette (1976), Jalpa (1982), LM002 (1986), Diablo (1990), Cala (1995), Murciélago (2001) and the Gallardo (2003). Although Lamborghini has continously shown engineering expertise with the more civil models such as 350GT, 400GT, Espada, Jarama, Jalpa and Gallardo, it is the outrageous supercars that have established the Lamborghini name and look with the public. The Miura, the Countach, the Diablo, and the Murciélago continue to be the most desired sportscars of all of their peers.

The current (2006) range consists of the Murciélago, the Murciélago Roadster and the smaller, less expensive Gallardo and Gallardo Spyder. All are very fast, mid-engined 2-seaters with four-wheel-drive as standard. The styling is largely the work of Belgian designer Luc Donckerwolke. Future models may include a revived Miura supercar to rival the Ferrari Enzo, a rear-drive GT3 version of the Gallardo. The new Miura as well as future Lamborghini models will be penned by Audi design boss Walter de’Silva who replaces Luc Donckerwolke.

Model List

Ownership

Lamborghini has had a number of owners, as shown in this simplified list:

• Ferruccio Lamborghini 1963–1972
• Georges-Henri Rossetti & René Leimer 1972–1977
• bankrupt 1977–1984
• Patrick Mimran (managed 1980–1984) 1984–1987
• Chrysler 1987–1994
• Megatech 1994–1998
• Volkswagen Group (Audi) since 1998

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