Short Description
Lamborghini is on the up. Miura concept car apart, the Gallardo is the car that is making everyone pay attention; fast, fun and four-wheel drive. This is a story about the very latest model, the 520bhp Gallardo Spyder, but I think I stumbled on the next Gallardo too. All very top secret – read on. During the 1960s and ’70s, the Sant’Agata company shook the supercar world with fabulous cars. Then Lamborghini battled for its very existence during the 1980s and ’90s when the company had more owners than customers. In 1998 came the VW/Audi takeover; with VW supplying the money, Audi the organisation and Lamborghini the panache. The Bolognese company has always been a global brand but now it is stealing sales from the opposition. Lamborghini may be German-owned and have a German head but its heart will always be Italian. Currently more than 90% of its 700 employees are Italian. Car-men like Enzo Ferrari, Horacio Pagani, Colin Chapman, Alessandro De Tomaso, William Lyons and Ferruccio Lamborghini made cars because they wanted to make cars. Money was a secondary factor.
Website: www.roberto-giordanelli.com | Filesize: 757kb
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At Lamborghini we now have a sound collaboration between the accountants and the artists. I jetted down to the Florida Keys to try out the new Gallardo Spyder. Fears that I would never get to shout ‘Yeeehar’ because of the 55mph limit vanished when those nice Lamborghini boys and girls pointed me in the direction of Florida’s Homestead Miami Speedway. Yeeehar it is then. Apart from our multi-coloured supercars, this fabulous automotive superbowl was empty but you can just imagine the flamboyant flag marshal on the overhead gantry; not to mention the Coliseum-style baying crowds. Let’s look at some Lamborghini statistics. Overall 2006 production (Murciélago and Gallardo) will be 1900 cars. Eight hundred of these will be Gallardo Spyders, and just 80 will come to the UK when they become available in Spring. Six-speed e-gear paddleshift will account for 70-80% of production, with six-speed manual making up the difference. While the USA is Lamborghini’s largest market, the company is opening new dealerships worldwide with two more planned for the UK: Birmingham and Edinburgh. Prices are not yet fixed but you can reckon on about ￡110,000 plus taxes. In traditional Lamborghini style, the Gallardo has been steadily improved since 2003. The new Spyder has 20bhp more power at 520bhp, better gear ratios, 20% quicker steering (2.6 turns) and one mother of an exhaust system. A new exhaust bypass has both satisfied customers’ requests for a sportier sound and helped free up top-end breathing.
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