DrVertigo

Should be interesting, I don't think Zagato have worked on a Lamborghini since the 3500 GTZ of 1965 (aside from a few cases of borrowed running gear).

I was at Wilton, thought it was a great show. So many Zondas! Well, so much of pretty much everything really. Did the Jag C-X75 get running in the pre-event?

Holy shit, it's Jimmy Hoffa. Where've you been?

Any press at the event?

I know a guy who tracked a wide variety of cars up until a few years ago, including Ferraris and Lambos, and the most fun he had was with a BMW CSL. Could be fun to find an old M3, strip it out and add a rollcage.

Seems you're more interested in how the car's perceived, rather than how it holds its value. With that in mind, the average person doesn't see the connection to the Bizzarrini V12 and decades of tubular steel construction when they look at a Lambo flagship (or a Gallardo for that matter), they see something ludicrously low, wide, imposing and unlike anything else on the road. The Aventador maintains more or less the same proportions and stance as its predecessors, so it's not ever going to lose that appeal. Also, I might brook some disagreement with this, but two years on from the Aventador's launch, I get the impression that its looks are more widely approved than at least the Murcielago's were at the same point, and maybe the Diablo's (coming, as it did, after the somewhat more adventurous Countach). And options like the Dione wheels and glossy carbon pieces are improving those looks even further. Looks aside, they made a strong effort to evoke the Bizzarrini V12's dynamics in the new engine, and as with the cars developed under Feruccio, it's a technologically advanced car. It's a proper Lamborghini. So yes, in my opinion it's always going to have some serious kudos attached to it. Among afficionados you'll get a hell of a lot more for a hardcore version when those appear (which will hold their value much better), and inevitably it'll be outclassed by its mid-life upgrade, but as far as most people are concerned, a Lambo is a Lambo. As far as value holding though... I'm not sure the elevated production figures are relevant, as so many of them are going to emerging markets, but past precedent indicates you'll be taking a massive haircut in the long term. It's encouraging that Aventadors are still holding their values in many regions, but over a long enough period I still think you'll see it drop well below half its initial value.

That's the Bob Wallace-aided Jota replica, as far as I know it's the most hardcore road-legal Lambo in existence. And yeah, you could hydrate a desert nation with the drool that car generates.

I think they might be intended to resemble the Aventador's Iperione's. But yeah, the official name is "Apollo polished".

How about a V12 Vantage? Just throwing it out there.

Has anyone actually driven an Aventador with cylinder deactivation yet? On some cars the shift isn't perceptible, all the driver's aware of is longer stints between petrol stations. Engine stop/start is bullshit on any car though (with the exception of hybrids, in which the engine naturally cuts in and out all the time), glad they have the sense to limit it to one gearbox mode.

Seven now. Apparently as many people are buying condoms as there are buying Venenos.

How much of a departure would you be willing to accept before you felt it significantly damaged the brand? Sticking to two-seater supercars saw them drop into the red when the recession hit, and I've always felt the Gallardo cannibalised V12 sales. It'll be interesting to see how the Aventador holds up when the new car appears.

Gah, I love the Pregunta. Very jealous of whoever's going to end up with it.

...That is not a tiger. In fact I don't think that is even a lion, I'm pretty sure it's a fcuking liger. Driving video was amusing though. Supposedly a tiger is behaviourally pretty much a domestic cat with less of a temper (albeit a hundred times larger), but my cat used to go nuts just sitting in the car with the windows closed - that little dude looked totally unphased hanging halfway out the window. It's bizarre that someone can be allowed to treat an animal so irresponsibly when they're within a gnat's whisker of dying out in the wild, though.

Magnificent. That's one of the best Miura descriptions I've ever read. Which issue was it in originally?

Hot damn, those are some pornographically comprehensive figures. If I was a teenager I'd totally have a giant poster of that page on my bedroom wall.

Loving the Oro Elios. Great picture too.

Well, the power output of a hybrid system is usually more than enough to offset its weight in terms of pure speed, but with a sports car you want power and low weight, and in supercars, really we need no more of the former and great improvements in the latter. The one really good thing is that it will provide a big chunk of torque instantly regardless of revs, allowing it to minimise turbo lag and make naturally aspirated units punchier. Something to keep in mind is that if the batteries are running low on the LäFerrari or P1, they won't be too much quicker than the Veneno. Lambo's engine is right up with theirs, and actually a bit more powerful than the P1's. The Zonda's a masterpiece of engineering, with every single component expertly crafted from the finest materials (not to mention that it doesn't conform to regulations for many countries), but I would love to know why the Aventador's weight is more than a steel-chassised, 1963-engined, similarly vast and 4wd Murcielago SV. The whole point of the ISR gearbox was to be lighter, smaller and better packaged than a dual clutch unit. Seems like that design ethos didn't extend to the rest of the car... RB's been told by Lamborghini that the Veneno may exceed the quoted 125kg weight loss, so it'll be interesting to find out what they're doing to it.

The Gallardo's sales performance isn't particularly anything to shout or cry about. Of the ten years the Gallardo's been in production, 2012 was its sixth best year, but only 5.4% off its fourth best year. More importantly though, the Aventador is red hot. 2012 wasn't just the best year for a Lamborghini V12 in the history of the company, it outsold the previous best (2008) by 50%... and that's despite having a much higher price tag than the Murcielago. Overall, the company's having its third best year ever. What we're currently seeing with things like the embarassing Gallardo 'update' is a result of some very lean years after the recession, and I only hope VW brass will allow them to branch out with more model lines to secure a more stable future. As for the Veneno, it'll live with nearly anything south of a Veyron, is more exclusive than Aston's (slower) One-77, and looks like absolutely nothing else on the road. What's the problem? It sounds like some critics, including Harris, are either expecting Lamborghini to produce something on a par with the top-end demonstration pieces from Ferrari and McLaren, or are upset that they quickly developed something attention-grabby to upstage the others. Regarding the former... Lamborghini's been cash-strapped since the recession hit, it's miraculous they managed to produce something as high-tech as the Aventador. Ferrari's way over three times their size in cars shipped alone and is one of the industry's most profitable brands, McLaren's still swollen from a fortune of investment to kick-start the customer car division. Lambo's one trump card, VW group backing, is actually against their favour when VAG already has Bugatti filling that niche... they seem to be having trouble enough just getting the Estoque and Urus past the powers that be. And regarding the upstaging issue... it's Lamborghini's 50th anniversary. It's Geneva. If they hadn't pulled something out the hat, it would be just plain embarassing.

Holy shit, why have I never seen this car before? I actually rather like it.

Oh bollocks. Could someone delete this please.

That is indeed the original and only 'official' Miura roadster, made by Bertone rather than the factory (in case anyone doesn't know, Bertone designed and built the bodyshells for all Lamborghinis prior to the Diablo, aside from the 350/400 GT by Touring, and I think all the post-LP400 Countach variants were designed in-house). You can't tell from the video, but it actually has an open engine bay, and some unique details in the interior such as the steering wheel. Also has widened intakes behind the side windows. The car has quite a story, it was sold to a zinc research company after finishing its tour of the motor shows, who performed a massive conversion on it. They manufactured a huge number of rather exquisite unique parts from exotic materials, as a showcase for what they could do (the darker green car pictured above, like Rouleur said). The car's current owner (I think) stripped the unique parts into storage, then repainted and converted it back into its original spec, which is how it looks today. The SVJ spider pictured above (the lime green one) was converted by the Swiss Lambo importer in 1981 from a Miura S, so technically it isn't in any way official. However it was made with SVJ parts supplied by the factory, and the company kind of took it under its wing, showing it on their stand at Geneva and considering the concept for production (nearly a decade after it finished production, but the Miura definitely went off sale far too early). It's had a couple of back-and-forth conversions too, though not as extreme as the other one. There are other chopped Miuras out there, but as far as I know they're all 100% private jobs. :edit: tl;dr? Neither of the pics Nathan posted are photoshops, and the second is the same car Valentino's driving in the video.

Those are absolutely beautiful pics. As for the wheels, they definitely look better in silver in my opinion.

They just used blueprinted engines, nothing mechanical was changed for those cars as far as I know, beyond cosmetics like the dash and lights.

Okay, finished my mock-up of a Veneno in its natural habitat... Mars. Image is based on this, so for all three I (or someone with more skill and energy) would composite the cars in smaller scale one behind the other, replacing each of the rovers. Might be better for a signature though, as there'd be a lot of horizontality to it.