The Hindu Business Line : Make way for the Lamborghini

Lamborghinis, some of the fastest and most powerful street legal cars, have won the hearts of auto enthusiasts. The company now plans to enter India with two of its most coveted models.

There are a few automobile brands that are so steeped in history, glamour and awe-inspiring technology, that hyperboles come naturally when we talk about them.

Italian performance car manufacturer Lamborghini is just one of these haloed marques, whose adulatory fans around the world can hardly wait for every new model to arrive at the neighbourhood showroom. And there aren't too many to choose from.

Last week, the company announced its plans to enter India and offer two of its most coveted models to performance car enthusiasts with fat wallets. For customers looking for Rs 1-crore-plus performance cars, Lamborghini, or popularly Lambo, is surely well-known. With competing super luxury performance brands such as Porsche already here, could Lambo have been far behind?

Modest beginnings

But for all the enviable, passion-filled, `autophilia' image that the Lambo name evokes, the company itself had very modest roots. The company, `Automobili Lamborghini', started in 1963, when the founder Ferruccio Lamborghini began work on a new automobile plant in SantAgata Bolognese, about 25 km from Bologna, Italy.

By the time he decided to build a factory for the manufacture of luxury sports cars, Lamborghini had already hit pay dirt, making tractors. In addition to tractors he also had a presence in other industries, but he had not even dabbled in the field of personal automobiles.

It is said that the trigger for Lamborghini to found a company to develop sports cars was an argument with Enzo Ferrari, founder of the legendary sports car brand Ferrari. Ferrari apparently questioned Lamborghini's ability to drive high-end sports cars of that time, claiming that he was only capable of driving tractors.

The world must now be thanking providence for that argument and for Lamborghini's egotistical response to that insensitive comment.

By the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Lamborghini was a highly successful, wealthy man capable of taking on some of the other big Italian businesses in might, but when he said that he would build a super sports car to compete with Ferrari, many people started to nod their heads and purse their lips. Constructing that kind of car was viewed as an unexplainable extravagance, a leap into the dark, and something that could squander his fortune.

A legend is born

But Lamborghini persisted with his seemingly impossible dream and the rest, as they say, is history. Lambo, the company, debuted with the 350 GTV, a two-door, two-seater coupe that was presented at the Turin Auto Show of 1963. This model and then the 350 GT, 350 GTS and the 400 GT were all lapped up by eager sports enthusiasts.

The legendary Miura, the Flying Star, the Marzal and the Miura Roadster followed. Many of these were prototypes, but were developed with the same level of passion as full production cars. But cars like the Miura enabled Lamborghini showcase the company's engineering and design ability to an audience that had been sceptical about its prowess in making a genuine sports performance car.

Lamborghini was born under the sign of Taurus and this was probably one of the reasons for his choosing the `Raging Bull' as the company's emblem. Of course, just like the Prancing Horse of Ferrari, the Raging Bull went on to become one of the most recognised logos in automotive history.

It is said that the Lambo founder was also a fan of bull fighting, which seems to have been one more reason why he chose names such as Miura, which were those of the finest Spanish bull fighting legends.

Some of the other models that went to become successes and further strengthened Lambo's image in the super luxury cars segment were the Espada, the Jarama, the Countach, the Bravo, the Portofino and the Diablo. One prototype of Lambo that did not make it to production, but set a design theme that was to become the distinctive feature of top-range Lamborghinis was the Marzal. It was the first concept to sport the sensational vertically opening `Gullwing' doors.

Lamborghini has won the hearts of car enthusiasts and has a unique, aggressive design character unrivalled by many auto-makers that have been in the business longer. As the company puts it, it is now an emblem of excess, symbolic of going further at all costs, of always doing more and better than any rival without preconceptions or conventional limitations.

Indian story

Many of Lambo's cars have been some of the fastest and most powerful street legal cars of their times. For example, the Rs 3 crore, Lambo Murcielago, that is being offered in India, will be one of the most powerful cars to run on Indian roads, with the 6.5-litre, 12-cylinder engine generating a peak power of 640 PS at 8,000 rpm and a maximum torque of 660Nm at 6,000 rpm (yes, that is right, we double checked the numbers).

The Murcielago and the Gallardo are two models that signalled a resurgence of the Lambo brand in the last few years. They capture the essence of the brand and its history, and have excelled their venerated peers in design and performance, even while adding all the elements of modernism inside and out.

Well, if you have been waiting for Lambo's entry into India, then wear that Armani suit of yours, slip into those Gucci shoes and take a flight to Delhi to place your order with Exclusive Motors.

Technical specifications

Murcielago LP640

Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640

Frame: Tubular frame made from high-strength steel alloy with carbon fibre structural parts

Body: Carbon fibre with door and roof in steel; transparent engine bonnet (optional)

Engine type: 12 cyls, V 60º, Size: 6496 cc

Maximum power: 640 PS at 8000 rpm

Maximum torque: 660Nm at 6000 rpm

Top speed: 340 km/hr

Acceleration: (0-100km/hr) 3.4 sec.

Fuel consumption: Urban 32.3 litres/100 km; Highway, 15 litres/100 km; Average: 21.3 litres/100 km

Price: Rs 3 crore

Gallardo

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder

Frame: Structural aluminium spaceframe, based on aluminium extruded parts welded to aluminium casted joint elements. Engine type: 10 cylinders V 90°, DOHC 4 valves, 18° crankpin offset

Displacement: 4961 cc

Maximum power: 500bhp at 7800 rpm

Maximum torque: 510Nm at 4500 rpm

Performance: Top speed 315 km/h / 196 mp/h; 0-100 km/h 4.2 sec; 0-1000 m 22.3 sec.

Fuel consumption: Manual and e gear (6-speed). Urban, 24.8 litres/100km; Highway, 12.4 litres/100 km; Average, 17 litres /100km

Price: Rs 1.65-1.85 crore.

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