2012 Lamborghini Aventador 2dr Cpe on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini to show Gallardo replacement concept in Frankfurt

Lamborghini will give us a big clue as to the look and feel of the impending replacement for its Gallardo model at this September's Frankfurt Motor Show. According to a report by Autocar, the Italian supercar maker will have a concept car in Frankfurt that will preview a 2015 replacement for the current Gallardo (pictured above).
While nothing is set in stone, the word is that Lamborghini is still considering "Cabrera" as the Gallardo-successor's name. We didn't know the company had so many Tigers fans, but the Autoblog Detroit office is stoked.
The same report tells us that the new Lamborghini, currently going by the internal designation LP724, will be based on the same platform as the second-generation Audi R8, rather than on the more exotic Aventador underpinnings. That means a modular spaceframe, aluminum and carbon fiber construction and a reduction in curb weight as a result - the target is less than 3,300 pounds. Even with the diet, the next Gallardo will be slightly longer than the current car, but about the same height and width.

Lamborghini's path to the future is paved with forged composites

As far back as 1983, Lamborghini has been researching carbon fiber for automotive use. The automaker felt confident enough in its ability to work with the high-tech material in 1985 that a team led by Maurizio Reggiani, now the Lamborghini Board Member in charge of Research and Development, crafted a revolutionary Countach with a chassis made almost entirely of hand-laid carbon fiber. The result was spectacular in that the car's chassis weighed about half of its all-metal counterpart. It turned out that first foray into carbon fiber was just as spectacular when it was finally tested for crashworthiness, but in a completely different way. Catastrophic would be an appropriate word, according to Paolo Feraboli, who now leads Lambo's brand-new Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. Proving how far Lamborghini has come since that ill-fated carbon-fiber Countach Evoluzione, Feraboli told us during the ACSL's grand opening that today's Aventador, which boasts a high-tech carbon chassis, aced its very first crash test in 2009. Chalk that success up to high-tech computer modeling and the practical application of lessons learned over several decades of trial and error. The dull red monocoque of that crashed Aventador now hangs on the wall at the ACSL like a functional piece of art, a reminder of Lamborghini's cutting-edge milestones of the past. Lamborghini's future will be hewn from what the company calls forged composites. First seen on the stunning Sesto Elemento Concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the patented carbon-forging process forgoes hand-laid sheets, injected resins, and high-heat autoclaves. Instead, wads of randomly oriented carbon fibers that sort of resemble the kind of dough you'd use to make pasta undergo a three-minute press inside a mold. The resulting parts are just as strong as other carbon-fiber bits, but can be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost. While it's true that cost is often a secondary consideration for high-end supercars, it's still relevant. By reducing the cost and increasing the scale of composite pieces, Lamborghini can then afford to spend more money on other parts of the car. It's not just body panels and chassis components that Lamborghini thinks it can build using forged composite technology. The Sesto Elemento featured forged-composite suspension control arms that haven't yet made it into production, but probably will soon.

Rear-wheel-drive Lamborghini Huracan coming to LA

We've got an invite to attend a "Lamborghini global product debut" in Los Angeles, and if an Autocar report is legit, it looks like that new car will be a rear-wheel-drive version of the Huracan. Despite touting all-wheel drive across its model range, Lamborghini did offer a rear-drive version of the Gallardo – the Huracan's predecessor – so a two-wheel-drive version of the new car makes a whole lot of sense. Autocar believes the RWD Huracan will be a lighter, more hardcore version of the already-good coupe. This new model is also tipped to be a limited-production car. The two-wheel-drive Gallardo was limited to just 250 units worldwide, and the same could be in store for this Huracan. Also, remember that Lamborghini does technically already make a rear-wheel-drive version of the Huracan: the LP 620-2 Super Trofeo racecar. What's more, Autocar says that Lamborghini could offer a rear-drive version of the topless Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder. Seems like an easy thing to do, especially if this RWD Huracan is, in fact, a more powerful, lightweight take on the entry-level Lambo. We'll know more during the Los Angeles Auto Show festivities, which kick off in just two weeks. Related Video: