2006 Lamborghini Gallardo Base Coupe 2-door 5.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

1998 Lamborghini Diablo SV Roadster, a unicorn bull, heads to auction

  Lamborghini made only two Diablo SV Roadsters, and RM Sotheby's is putting this one up for sealed auction running December 13-15. It's not only a rarity, it's a throwback to a time just 23 years ago that people who were there have to make an effort to remember. A time when Lamborghinis barely sold; Chrysler put the Lamborghini Diablo on the market in 1990, Audi took it off the market in 2001, Lambocars puts the entire Diablo run over those 11 years at around 2,500 cars including prototypes and factory specials. Today's Lamborghini moved more than double that number in the first half of this year. The products back then also weren't all that good; yes you could enjoy them, but you were going to sweat and work for it, and a yellow example was driven only by a tycoon or the loosest of cannons. This SV Roadster in Giallo over Nero "Torpedo" Alcantara with yellow piping has undoubtedly seen more pearls clutched than Oyster Bay.  In 1995, just after Chrysler sold the Italian outfit, Lamborghini launched the Diablo VT Roadster, a convertible version of the all-wheel-drive Diablo VT, and the Super Veloce (SV) Coupe, a pared-back rear-driver with more power from the 5.7-liter V12 than in the standard Diablo VT. The new Malaysian and Indonesian owners wanted to lure more American buyers, so they funded development of an SV Roadster to be a lighter, lither RWD version of the AWD VT Roadster. Three years later, a Pearl Orange SV Roadster show car went on display at the Geneva Motor Show in 1998. U.S. dealers wanted the car. However, the Malaysian and Indonesian owners sold Lamborghini to Audi the same year, and Audi canceled all rear-wheel-drive projects. A Milanese Lamborghini dealer asked Lamborghini's CEO to make one more example; the CEO agreed. Having created market demand then stiff-armed it, Lamborghini dealers and distributors in various regions removed the AWD system from some VT Roadsters to create something like an SV Roadster. However, the SV Roadster show car and the example for the Milanese dealer are the only two factory-official SV Roadsters in existence.  This one's been in the hands of four European collectors and shows 42,842 kilometers (26,621 miles) on the odo. Its V12 makes 530 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque. Lots of spendy options on this one, including exposed carbon fiber for the roof and intake blades, the optional rear wing also in exposed carbon fiber, the front suspension lift system, and the sports exhaust.

Lamborghini exploring more elegant designs

Ferrari's front-engined V12s and mid-engined V8s have taken turns monopolizing the brand's perception; the 550 Maranello was probably the last front-engined V12 to be first-to-mind, now the 458 Italia leads the family. Not so at Lamborghini, where a mid-engined V12 has been the go-to and centerpiece since the extraterrestrial Countach landed, and it still is no matter how much the Huracan outsells the Aventador. That shape, those doors, that engine – they're the franchise. That doesn't mean Lamborghini isn't trying new things. The Asterion LPI 910-4 concept from last year's Paris Motor Show was more than the marque's first draft of a hybrid, it was an exploration of a different avenue in design. According to design chief Filippo Perini, "We need to understand if we can open another window in our future to be not so extreme but also a little bit more politically correct and elegant." The Asterion points at elegance and "a daily use of the car" with more room inside, a slimmer rocker panel and sill for easier entry, and a raised hip point in the seats for a higher driving position. Perini said that from the driver's seat, "You can see the color of the car. That is something unknown in our very extreme designs." Extreme Lamborghinis aren't going away, however – note that Perini spoke of opening "another window" of design. The goal, he said, "is to understand if [its] design language will be appreciated by a different kind of customer." We can't imagine why not, and we hope we get more news about the "hyper cruiser" GT outside of magazine articles and auto show grandstanding. If it were up to us, Lamborghini would open that window all the way.

Lamborghini struggles to cap its own production to maintain brand exclusivity

Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, and so on demand high prices, and that's not just because you’re buying incredible performance, technology and luxury. YouÂ’re also buying exclusivity. Recently, however, Wall Street and shareholders have been pressuring supercar makers to produce more cars and yield more profits. The problem is that higher production volume compromises exclusivity and dilutes the brand. So while LamborghiniÂ’s shareholders want the company to produce more cars, executives are seeking to impose limits and cap production. "We must not go on growing forever. We now have to consolidate these results and preserve exclusivity," Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali told reporters at an event inaugurating the companyÂ’s newest paint and body shop at the SantÂ’Agata Bolognese plant in Italy. The execs are having limited success, however, as the company announced that it plans to sell more than 8,000 cars this year, which is “the right dimension of our company with our current product portfolio,” Domenicali said. A run of 8,000 cars would be an increase of 39 percent from 2018's total of 5,750 new Lambos. It has been a strong decade for Lamborghini; a mere 1,302 vehicles were sold back in 2010. However, that goal of 8,000 could swell to around 10,000 cars, depending on whether the company adds another model to its small lineup. Such a case would have to be deliberated among shareholders. Lamborghini saw considerable growth in the first quarter of this year, likely attributed to the launch of its Urus SUV. So far, analysts are forecasting an increase in revenue to around 1.7 billion euros, or $1.92 billion USD, up from 1.42 billion euros or $1.6 billion USD in 2018, said Chief Financial Officer Paolo Poma. At the same event, Lamborghini confirmed that an electric supercar is not in its future at this time as “customers are currently not interested,” Poma said. However, Lamborghini is indeed seeking to add hybrid vehicles to its lineup by 2025, as itÂ’s pressured to lower CO2 emissions and meet future mandates. The Urus is expected to be one of the cars receiving a hybrid powertrain, as it is not planned to get a V10 or V12 engine.