Think this: "New Lambo" vs "next 599" One new super car with front engine, Lamborghini never make that before, maybe it is.... 3 model in IAA: Aventador, Gallardo and the 3º Model Estoque Style...
That car is an aberration. All Ferraris should be red. All Mercedes should be silver. All women should have curves. All sporting events should have beer. And all Lamborghinis should be mid-engine.
Yeah, like the 350GT, 400GT, Islero, Jarama, Espada and the LM002! Oh wait... With this car, if this really is the new car, another of my predictions comes true... just a few years early...
Okay, the 350GT and 400GT get a pass. But the Islero, Jarama, Espada, and LM002 reiterate my point that all Lamborghinis SHOULD BE mid-engine.
I didn't mean any offense, but I'm simply not a fan of Lamborghini's front-engine cars. No front-engine Lamborghini design has properly represented the attributes for which Lamborghini has come to be known - raw unbridled horsepower, jaw-dropping performance, and a brilliant piece of automotive engineering design. I own four Lambos - a 25th Anniversary Countach, a Diablo Roadster, a Gallardo Spyder, and a Gallardo LP560-4 Coupe. All are masterpieces, like pieces of sculpture, representing what the mind of man can accomplish beginning with nothing more than a blank piece of paper and a pencil. Comparatively speaking, I'm saying that the Islero, the Jarama, the Espada, and (especially) the LM002 simply don't compare to cars like the Countach, the Diablo, the Murci, or the Gallardo. Image Unavailable, Please Login
All right, then why does the 350/400GT get a pass? They don't meet your criteria either. Do you know why Lamborghini was founded in the first place? Do you know which sort of cars he preferred? It's not a crazy case to say that in a sense Lamborghini lost it's way since it's origins. It certainly died many deaths during the very lean Countach years.
Because of their unique place in the history of the company. If you REALLY want a contradiction, I would say the Jalpha and Shadow do NOT qualify as world-class examples of company values despite their mid-engine configuration. Yes, yes, I know... and for your benefit, I'll reiterate all the stuff any moron could go find for himself on the web. It doesn't prove anything - that I know it or otherwise - although I DO happen to (know the history) by simple virtue of the fact that I currently own four Lamborghinis. Mr. Lamborghini built a tractor company, as well as seperate gas heater and air conditioning companies. As far as Automobili Lamborghini, we all know the rumors of his problems with the Ferrari transmission in his 1958 250GT, requesting a meeting, and Ferrari saying "send the farmer away"... Lamborghini responding that he would show them how to build a performance motorcar. While Mr. Lamborghini never DENIED the account, neither did he reinforce it or reiterate it during his lifetime, and frankly I've no reason to believe it's anything more than a rumor (based on the fact that he owned a number of OTHER Ferraris in later years). In any case, it makes for great urban mythology, but nobody can really be sure how much of it is true. I'm told he preferred grand touring cars (and not high-performance supercars), although to be honest, I don't really know that it's material or relevant to the concepts which brought the company out of obscurity and thrust them squarely onto the world stage. And really, THAT'S what we're talking about here - not what the founder necessarily PREFERRED, but the reputation for world-class extreme performance (along with breathtaking body lines which had never been seen on a production vehicle prior) for which the company came to be known. The 1966 Miura was the car that catapulted Lamborghini to fame and established the mid-engine configuration as the standard for the time - and for that reason alone, the mid-engine configuration entrenched Automobili Lamborghini as a gold standard of sorts in terms of automotive engineering. Lamborghini sold control of the company in 1972 in the wake of financial problems with Trattori Lamborghini. (yes, I know my history). The Countach years were lean, to be sure - but you really have to keep them in the context of the time. There were massive disruptions in the fuel supply channels, long lines at the pumps, inflation devaluing our currency, and the Countach was a car which (at the time, in that economy) was just insanely expensive. Demand simply wasn't there for a supercar at that point in history. In fact, it could be argued that an entire generation of us would have to grow up with those posters on our walls (saturation marketing) before the market for extreme supercars could be properly cultivated to drive that segment of the automotive industry.
