Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini, is an Italian manufacturer of high performance sports cars 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 Group. Lamborghini's latest model, the Reventón, is one of the fastest and most expensive of the Italian supercars. 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..
Ferruccio decided that his car was to have a V12 engine. The talented engineer, Giotto Bizzarrini, was assigned to produce the blueprint. Bizzarrini had worked for Ferrari as an engineer and had experience with the development of the Ferrari V12. The new engine had 4 camshafts, a short stroke, and 2 big bore valves per cylinder. The engine developed 350 horsepower (260 kW). The engine featured aluminum construction, a seven main bearing crankshaft, forged aluminum pistons, and camshafts with their own half-engine-speed sprocket with silent chain. The body was designed by Franco Scaglione.
Born under the sign of the Taurus, Ferruccio Lamborghini used the bull as the badge to mark his new automobile. The Lamborghini 350GTV prototype was introduced at the 1963 Turin Auto Show. Lamborghini commissioned Carrozzeria Touring to design a more practical model. This was put into production as the 350GT. Sales of the 350GT totaled 130. 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.
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. 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. 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.
The Lamborghini badge with its connotations of exotic motoring has been licensed for use on unrelated products such as mountain bikes, watches, cigar lighters, humidors, sunglasses, and notebook computers from Asus in Taiwan. Lamborghini Models List: 350GTV 1963 Lamborghini V12, 350GT 1964–1968, 400GT 2+2 1966–1968, Miura 1966–1974, Espada 1968–1978, Islero 1968–1970, Jarama 1970–1978, Urraco 1970–1979, Countach 1974–1990, Silhouette 1976–1977, Jalpa 1982–1990, LM002 1986–1992, Diablo 1990–2001, Murcielago 2001–, Gallardo 2003–, Murcielago LP640 2006– Reventon 2007-2008.
The Espada, a four-seat car based on the Marzal concept car, was developed along side of the Miura. 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 front engine layout, the low slung touring car could attain a top speed of approximately 150 mph (240 km/h). An 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 over its production, resulting in three distinct series. In 1971, Lamborghini produced the LP500 Countach prototype. The Countach was named after an Italian slang term uttered in surprise by Nuccio Bertone upon seen the car for the first time. 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 Countach's V12 engine initially had the same 4-litre capacity as the Miura, but this was enlarged to five litres upon the introduction of the LP500S Countach in 1982. The Countach was one of the first cars to use the Pirelli P-Zero tires. Lamborghini's own test driver would often demonstrate the Countach's abilities to journalists. Stories of the Countach's amazing high speed cornering, power and grip were common. Another detail noted by journalists was the manner in which reversing a Countach was accomplished; raising the driver's door and sitting on the door sill.
