LAMBORGHINI: THE MOST COVETED SPORTS CARS EVER MADE

The Lamborghini story is famous, Ferruccio Lamborghini allegedly created his visionary supercar marque due to an insult from Enzo Ferrari of the eponymous Ferrari brand. Lamborghini had made his fortune in tractors and indulged in supercars. A fault with his Ferraris and the dismissal of his concerns by the Ferrari founder led to the creation of, arguably, the greatest supercar brand of them all in 1963. Today, the Italian company is known for its high-performance sports cars and grand tourers. Lamborghini cars are known for their elegant designs, powerful engines, and luxurious interiors.

The iconic “Lambo” brand has featured in posters adorning the walls of teenagers across the walls and has developed a cult status in pop culture. This is in part due to its revolutionary foundation and in part due to the marque’s preference for low stance silhouettes with striking and aggressive lines.

This has been the signature style since the 350GT was released as their first model in 1963. Indeed, Bologna-based Ferruccio Lamborghini was a connoiseur of high-performance sports cars and he knew what would make for a luxury tourer that could also handle itself with finesse on the track.

The firm’s wealthy founder was a technical genius whose enormous fortune was built upon his engineering and mechanical prowess. His capacity to build reliable and affordable tractors was a manifestation of his technical know-how and vision. He used these abilities to further pivot his business into home electronics and appliances. It was this skillset that helped him identify a regular clutch fault that repeatedly occurred in Ferraris of the time. He determined that the clutch was built using components that his tractors had also used and that Ferrari was grossly marking up the parts price when customers ordered replacements. He brought his concerns to Ferrari where he was dismissed as a lowly tractor-maker whose net worth was self-made. He was not the Old Money playboy prince jet-setter that Ferrari made his cars for.

This spurning insult led Lamborghini to set about launching his own automotive house. He was determined that his cars should also outperform Ferrari. So it was with the 350GT and the Miura – Lamborghini’s early cars.

The firm quickly gained a reputation for their performance and style and caused alarm at their Maranello-based rivals. Curiously, the two houses are located close to one another near Modena.

The company would continue from strength to strength but it was the launch of the legendary Countach in 1974 that cemented the brand as a powerhouse. The Countach was bold, powerful and wild – an out and out racing car designed to be road-legal and luxurious to drive. It marked the first proper supercar and heralded the dawn of a new age in which all of their competitors would have to scramble to remain relevant.

However, the brand would experience a period of decline into the 1990s when the Countach reached the end of its production lifecycle and was no longer as in demand as it had once been. Its successor, the Diablo, had excited pundits and customers alike, but other brands had produced supercars of their own and these had taken the shine off Lamborghini’s crown.

Throughout this period, the Lamborghini brand changed ownership several times with production limited and concepts being shelved before production could commence.

Finally, however, the company was acquired by the Volkswagen Group under the Audi brand. Initially, the German group had intended to use the Lamborghini proprietary technology, expertise and platforms to create high-performance supercars under the Volkswagen and Audi brands (with some degree of success). Sales were not what was hoped and the decision was made to revive the illustrious marque in the early 2000s. Since then, Lamborghini has released a number of successful new models, such as the Gallardo, the Aventador, and the Huracan.

Lamborghini is known as an ultra-luxury brand, to own a Lamborghini is to accept the impracticalities of a track-capable racing car, with high maintenance and high fuel costs. It is not about the price.

This much is clear from the materials the house uses to produce and finish their cars and their attention to detail. At the forefront, performance is the primary factor in design decisions, with carbon fibre and Alcantara being commonplace in modern Lamborghinis. However, aware of their target customer’s high standards and expectations of luxury, the firm provides a range of elegant details and finishing options, including leather upholstery, chrome trims and whatever preference a customer may have agreed with the company’s expert team.

The Lamborghini house has further expanded on their technical nous and savvy with the recent development of a range of high-performance motor yachts, designed to the same motif and specifications as their supercars. Similarly, they have collaborated with Ducati – the superbike brand, to design Lamborghini motorcycles. Feruccio Lamborghini also launched a design studio, Torino Lamborghini, that has put the famous name to a wide range of luxury goods and lifestyle projects from high-rise apartment towers and sumptuous furnishings and homewares to pens and wristwatches.

Lamborghini is back on top and is a highly coveted, aspirational brand the world over.

Why not tell us what you think? Have you had the pleasure of driving one of this marque’s phenomenal supercars?

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