'Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.', commonly referred to as 'Lamborghini', is an Italian manufacturer of high performance
sports cars (
supercar) based in the small
Italian village of
Sant'Agata Bolognese, near
Bologna. Lamborghini is now a subsidiary of German car manufacturer
Audi AG, which is in turn a subsidiary of
Volkswagen.
[1] [2] Lamborghini is the main counterpart to
Ferrari in the Italian sports car business. The company was founded in
1963 by businessman
Ferruccio Lamborghini (
April 28,
1916–
February 20,
1993), who owned a successful
tractor factory, ''Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A.''.
History
Origin
As told by Ferruccio Lamborghini's son,
[3] Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet
Enzo Ferrari at the
Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the
clutch in the
Ferrari 250 GT he owned. Enzo Ferrari sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari's clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors. In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved.
Ferruccio decided that his car was to have a
V12 engine, and enlisted the services of talented engineer
Giotto Bizzarrini, who had previously worked on a Ferrari V12. The new engine had 4
cams, a short stroke and 2 big bore valves per cylinder, and developed a surprising 350
horsepower (260 kW). The engine featured aluminium construction, with a
crankshaft supported by seven main bearings, forged aluminium pistons, and
camshafts with their own half-engine-speed sprocket and silent chain. The car the engine was mounted in was designed by
Franco Scaglione's Scaglione-Touring.
This
Lamborghini 350GTV prototype began making public appearances in 1963, starting with the Turin Auto Show. Sales of the production model, known as the
350GT, began the following year with great success, with over 130 examples sold. Born under the sign of the
Taurus, Ferruccio Lamborghini used the bull as the badge by which to mark his new automobile.
Under Ferruccio Lamborghini
The 350GT by Lamborghini was followed up by the
400GT. The excellent sales of the 400GT and its predecessor gave the company sufficient funds to design its first supercar - the now-legendary
Lamborghini Miura, which was premiered by Ferruccio himself in November 1965 at the Turin Auto Show. The car's engine was
transversely mounted. The styling was executed by
Marcello Gandini in less than a year; a completed car was displayed at the
Geneva Auto Show in March, 1966 (the Turin car was only a chassis). The car's name was taken from that of a famed fighting-bull trainer,
Don Eduardo Miura. The Miura was a success for Lamborghini: 111 were sold in 1967, and it propelled the company into the small world of exotic supercar manufacturers.
At the same time, the
Espada, a four-seat car based on the Marzal concept car, was developed. The name Espada means sword in Spanish, and referred to the sword used by the matador in bullfighting. Using the 4-litre V12 in a conventional layout up front, this low slung touring car could attain a top speed of around 150 mph in comfort. One interesting feature of the Espada was a glass taillight panel that used the same taillights as the contemporary Fiat 124 Coupe. The Espada received minor improvements in keeping with the time as the years went by, ending up with 3 different versions.
In 1971, Lamborghini brought the unusual-looking
LP500 Countach prototype, named after an Italian slang term uttered in surprise by a person who had just seen the new car. The production
LP400 Countach was introduced three years later. The prototype was the first car to sport Lamborghini's now-traditional scissor doors, along with vertically mounted rear air intakes. The same 4-litre V12 engine was used, an uprated 5-litre engine arriving later in the Countach production. The Countach was also one of the first cars to use the new Pirelli P-Zero tyres when they came out. Lamborghini's own test driver was sometimes the "chauffeur" for motoring magazines' journalists, and stories of the Countach's amazing high speed cornering, power and grip were common. Another point noted by journalists was the manner in which reversing a Countach was accomplished; raising the driver's door and sitting on the door sill.
Lamborghini tractor
In 1972, however, the company suffered a major setback. A massive tractor order for a South American nation was cancelled, rendering upgrades Lamborghini had already made to its factories in anticipation of the demand useless. The money lost drove Ferruccio to sell part of his share in the tractor factory, which was taken over by
Fiat. The tractor business was eventually acquired by SAME (now
Same Deutz-Fahr). Lamborghini tractors are still sold today, as part of the SAME Deutz-Fahr Group.
Throughout the seventies, sales of the Countach kept the company in business. Soon enough, the car division became self-sufficient and profitable. Lamborghini, however, sold all his remaining stock in the company to a Swiss investor, leaving the automotive industry behind to pursue wine making from the comfort of his villa in the countryside. Ferruccio Lamborghini died in February
1993 at the age of 76.
Bankruptcy, Mimran, and Chrysler
The
1970s oil crisis plagued sales of high performance cars, and Lamborghini suffered budget and parts supply problems; cars were sold with two-year back orders, and customers became fed up with waiting for their cars. Also, Lamborghinis were never raced and were never fully developed; the company developed a reputation of building toys for rich playboys when
Ferrari and
Porsche, and
Maserati before them built illustrious careers in the racing world. Since the beginning the cars had continuous and expensive reliability problems, in the '70s things became even worse, as cars now had to meet US emission requirements. All these factors contributed to the company's demise. Like many other exotic Italian automobiles, the components used were often of poor quality. In 1978, Lamborghini declared bankruptcy. An Italian court was appointed to find a buyer, and the Swiss-based Mimran brothers took over the company. The
1980s saw things turn around for Lamborghini under its new ownership.
In a surprise move, the company was sold to the
Chrysler Corporation in 1987. Lamborghini at the time was working on the Countach's successor, the
Diablo. Chrysler brought its vast resources to the playing field, along with design input, pollution controls, and new manufacturing techniques. The end result was another success for the company. The
Lamborghini Diablo received fame much like that of its predecessor, and once again put the manufacturer on top of its game.
Post-Chrysler: Megatech and Audi
In 1994, Chrysler was forced to sell Lamborghini to an Indonesian investment group headed by
Tommy Suharto. The sale was due to poor economic circumstances for Chrysler, much like those which would later force the Indonesians to sell the company in the late
1990s. By then however, the German car company
Audi AG had gained interest in the ailing Italian company, and in 1998, in a complex series of transactions, Audi AG became the sole owner of Automobili Lamborghini.
Lamborghini's latest owner once again greatly influenced the design of its cars, such as today's
Murcielago. Audi's vast technical resources helped produce one of Lamborghini's most sophisticated two-seaters to date.
Lamborghini's cars are among the most powerful, expensive and exclusive serial-manufactured cars on the road today. Lamborghini's various models have different exclusive features, such as
carbon fiber construction, high-tech
V10 and
V12 engines, and styling penciled by such names as
Franco Scaglione,
Touring of Milan,
Zagato,
Mario Marazzi,
Bertone,
ItalDesign and
Marcello Gandini.
Lamborghini of Latin America
Jorge Antonio Fernandez Garcia set up his company, automoviles Lamborghini Latinamerica, in 1994 with special permission granted by Automobili Lamborghini in Italy. The first cars, called the Eros and the Coatl were presented in 2000. These are hand-made Diablo-based special sportscars and from 2003 they are offered for sale only in
South America.
''Official site:
automoviles Lamborghini Latinamerica sita oficial
''
Badge Licensing
The Lamborghini badge with its connotations of exotic motoring has been licensed for use on unrelated products such as mountain bikes, watches, sunglasses, and
notebook computers from
Asus in Taiwan.
Models
2007 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster
2005 Lamborghini Gallardo Coupé
2005 Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster
Lamborghini Diablo Roadster
Lamborghini Countach
Lamborghini Miura S
Lamborghini 350 GT
Lamborghini's outrageous supercar models have brought Lamborghini much fame. The Miura, the Countach, the Diablo, and the Murciélago, continue to be some of the most desired super cars of all time. The current (2007) range consists of the
Murciélago LP640, the
Murciélago LP640 Roadster and the smaller, less expensive Gallardo, Gallardo Spyder and Gallardo Superleggera. All are extremely fast, mid-engined 2-seaters with Lamborghini's standard all-wheel drive systems. Their styling is largely the work of Belgian designer
Luc Donckerwolke. Future models may include a rear-wheel-drive version of the Gallardo and possibly an SUV in the spirit of the
LM002. The next generation of Lamborghini models will be penned by
Walter de'Silva, who designed the 2006
Miura concept car and who replaced Luc Donckerwolke as head of Centro Stile Lamborghini, Lamborghini's in-house design department.
Racing Models
Ferruccio Lamborghini had set a rule that Lamborghini would not be involved in motor racing. He saw such a program as too expensive and too demanding in company resources. Consequently, no Lamborghini racing car was fabricated under his management. The closest the company came to building racing cars at that time was when the company's test driver Bob Wallace made a few highly modified prototypes based on existing models. Notable among these are the Muira SV based ''Jota'' and the Jarama S based ''Bob Wallace Special''.
Under the management of Rosetti, Lamborghini entered into an agreement with
BMW to build a production racing car in sufficient quantity for homologation. However, Lamborghini found itself unable to fulfill their part of the agreement. The car was eventually developed in-house by the BMW Motorsport Division, and was manufactured and sold as the
BMW M1.
[4][5]
Lamborghini developed the QVX for the 1986
Group C championship season. One car was built, but lack of sponsorship caused it to miss the season. The QVX competed in only one race, the non-championship 1986 Southern Suns 500 km race at
Kyalami in
South Africa, driven by
Tiff Needell. Despite the car finishing better than it started, sponsorship could not be found and the program was cancelled.
[6]
Lamborghini was an engine supplier in
Formula One between the
1989 and
1993 Formula One seasons. It supplied engines to
Larousse,
Ligier,
Lotus,
Minardi and to a '
Lamborghini' team, although this last was not viewed as a works team by the car company. Late in 1991, a Lamborghini Formula One motor would be used in the
Konrad KM-011 Group C sports car, but the car would only last a few races before the project was cancelled. The same engine, badged as a
Chrysler by Lamborghini's then parent company, was tested by
McLaren towards the end of the 1993 season, with a view to its use during the
1994 season. Although driver Ayrton Senna was reportedly impressed with the engine's performance, McLaren pulled out of negotiations, choosing a
Peugeot engine instead, and Chrysler ended the project.
Two racing versions of the Diablo were built for the Diablo Supertrophy, a single-model racing series held annually from 1996 to 1999. In the first year, the model used in the series was the Diablo SVR, while the Diablo 6.0 GTR was used for the remaining three years.
[7] [8]
Lamborghini developed the Murciélago R-GT as a production racing car to compete in the
FIA GT Championship, the
Super GT Championship and the
American Le Mans Series in 2004. Their highest placing in any race that year was the opening round of the FIA GT Championship at
Valencia, where the car entered by
Reiter Engineering finished third from a fifth-place start.
[9] [10] In 2006 during the opening round of the Super GT championship at
Suzuka, a car run by the
Japan Lamborghini Owners Club garnered the first victory (in class) by an R-GT.
A
GT3 version of the Gallardo has been developed by Reiter Engineering.
[11]
A Murciélago R-GT entered by All-Inkl.com racing, driven by
Christophe Bouchut and
Stefan Mucke, won the opening round of the
FIA GT Championship held at
Zhuhai International Circuit, achieving the first major international race victory for Lamborghini.
[12]
Ownership
Lamborghini has had a number of owners:
★ Ferruccio Lamborghini 1963–1972
★ Georges-Henri Rossetti and René Leimer 1972–1977
★ bankrupt 1977–1984
★
★ managed by Patrick Mimram 1980–1984
★ Patrick Mimram 1984–1987
★
Chrysler Corporation 1987–1994
★
Megatech 1994–1995 (Permission granted for the Creation of Lamborghini Latinoamerica S.A.)
★
V'Power, Mycom 1995–1998
★
Audi AG 1998-present
References
1. Audi.com
2. http://www.vwgroupsupply.com/b2b/vwb2b_folder/supplypublic/en/brands/lamborghini.frameset_inner.html VW Group Supply.com
3. FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM RENAZZO: Ferruccio Lamborghini
4. Auto Lemon - Used Car History Check: BMW M1
5. BMW M1 Car Guide
6. Lamborghini QVX Car Guide
7. Lamborghini Diablo SVR Car Guide
8. Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 GTR Car Guide
9. Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT Car Guide
10. Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT 2004 Season
11. Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Car Guide
12. FIA GT Championship Results: 2007 Round 1 - Zhuhai
External links
★
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.
★
At a glance specifications of current Lamborghini cars.
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
