EXPLORER CAR: lamborghini best new photos 2010

In much the same way that American ownership had influenced the design of the Diablo, Lamborghini's new German parent played a large role in the creation of the Diablo's replacement. The first new Lamborghini in more than a decade, known internally as Project L140, represented the rebirth of Lamborghini, and was named, fittingly, for the bull that originally sired the Miura line that had inspired Ferruccio Lamborghini almost 40 years before: Murciélago. The new flagship car was styled by Belgian Luc Donckerwolke, Lamborghini's new head of design.
The "Baby Lambo", envisioned in 1997, was introduced in 2003 as the GallardoUnder German ownership, Lamborghini found stability that it had not seen in many years. In 2003, Lamborghini followed up the Murciélago with the smaller, V10-equipped Gallardo, intended to be a more accessible and more livable than the Murciélago. In 2007, Wolfgang was appointed as the new head of design of Audi and Lamborghini, replacing Walter de'Silva, who was responsible for the design of only one car during his appointment, the Miura Concept of 2006.
Towards the end of the 2000s, Lamborghini produced a number of revisions of the Murciélago and Gallardo. The Reventón, a limited-edition derivative of the Murciélago featuring revised, angular styling, was released in 2008, with a roadster following the year after.
The final update to the Murciélago came in 2009 with the release of the LP 670-4 SV ("SuperVeloce"). The 4,000th Murciélago was produced in 2010. The car was delivered to China. At the time, the growing Asia-Pacific vehicle market represented 25 percent of Lamborghini's sales.A slide in Lamborghini's sales that began at a high of 2,580 units in 2007 was attributed to the effects of the world financial crisis. CEO Stephan Winkelmann predicted that poor sales figures for supercars would continue through 2011
Production of the Murciélago ended on November 5, 2010, after a production run of 4,099 cars A successor, powered by a new V12 engine, is expected in 2011
The 1973 oil crisis plagued the sales of high performance cars from manufacturers around the world; the rising price of oil caused governments to mandate new fuel economy laws, and consumers to seek smaller, more practical modes of transportation. Sales of Lamborghini's exotic sports cars, propelled by high-powered engines with little consideration for fuel efficiency, (the 1986 Countach, powered by a 5.2-litre evolution of the V12 engine, had a 6 mpg/100 km; 7.2 mpg-imp) city and 10 mpg L/100 km; 12 mpg-imp highway United States Environmental Protection Agency rating suffered greatly.
The Countach, then the most popular and successful Lamborghini in history, was in production from 1974 to 1988.In 1974, Ferruccio Lamborghini sold his remaining 49% stake in the company to René Leimer, a friend of Georges-Henri Rossetti. Having severed all connections with the cars that bore his name, he retired to an estate on the shores of Lake Trasimeno, in the frazione of Panicarola in Castiglione del Lago, a town in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region of central Italy, where he would remain until his last days.In 1974, the LP500 finally entered production as the Countach, powered by a smaller, 4.0-litre V12. The first production model was delivered in 1974. In 1976, the Urraco P300 was revamped into the Silhouette, featuring a Targa top and a 3-litre V8. Its poor build quality, reliability, and ergonomics all worked against it, as did the fact that it could only be imported into the U.S. via the "grey market". Only 54 were produced. Countach was also hampered by its lack of direct participation in the American market until the LP500 version, released in 1982.In the 1977 Geneva Motor Show, Lamborghini unveiled its first prototype military vehicle, the "Cheetah", a rear-mounted Chrysler V8 engine. However, the only prototype was destroyed during testing by the US military , which lost the company both that contract, and ultimately led to the cancellation of a contract from BMW to develop the M1 sports car.Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.,[Notes 1] commonly referred to as Lamborghini (pronounced [lamborˈɡiːni] ( listen)), is an Italian automaker based in the small township of Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like Ferrari.
The company's first models were released in the mid-1960s, and were noted for their refinement, power, and comfort. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coupé, which established mid-engine design as the standard layout for high-performance cars of the era. After a decade of rapid growth, hard times befell the company in the mid-1970s, as sales plunged in the wake of the 1973 world financial downturn and oil crisis. After going through bankruptcy and three changes in ownership, Lamborghini came under the corporate umbrella of the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. The American company failed to return the automaker to profitability and sold it to Indonesian interests in 1994. Lamborghini's lack of success continued through the 1990s, until the company was sold in 1998 to AUDI AG (Audi), a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, a German automotive concern. Audi's ownership marked the beginning of a period of stability and increased productivity for Lamborghini, with sales increasing nearly tenfold over the course of the 2000s, peaking in record sales in 2007 and 2008. The world financial crisis in the late 2000s saw Lamborghini's sales drop by nearly half by 2009, leading CEO Stephen Winkelmann to predict continued poor sales for supercar makers.
Assembly of Lamborghini cars continues to take place at the automaker's ancestral home in Sant'Agata Bolognese, where engine and automobile production lines run side-by-side at the company's single factory. Each year, the facility produces fewer than 3,000 examples of the two models offered for sale, the V10-powered Gallardo coupé and roadster. The flagship V12-powered Murciélago coupé and roadster were discontinued at the end of 2010, with a successor expected in 2011.

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