Six decades after Lamborghini built its first car, and with some turbulent history long behind it, the marque is at its strongest. With today’s supercar customers finding more choices than at any other time in auto history, they also find very different approaches to design and engineering from the top makers. Lamborghini celebrates those differences and stands apart from rivals in many ways.
For its 60th anniversary year, Lamborghini opened a new chapter with its first plug-in hybrid supercar, the Revuelto, which replaced the Aventador in the top slot. That’s a long way from the farm tractors that helped launch the marque. In 2024, the automaker added two more plug-ins, the Temerario that replaced the Huracán, and the Urus SE joining the SUV side of the family.
Lamborghini on a (money) roll
Lamborghini’s most successful period began in 1998 under Audi stewardship within Volkswagen Group. In 2023, the automaker had its highest sales ever with 10,112 vehicles worldwide, a 10-percent jump over the previous year (which was a 10 percent increase over 2021). The U.S. remains Lamborghini’s largest market, and it, too, saw a 10-percent jump in sales in 2023, reaching exactly 3,000. Lamborghini’s Urus high-performance SUV accounts for nearly 60 percent of sales.
Current Lamborghini models
For many people under age 40, a Lamborghini has always been a super-low, scissor-door supercar that looks like the automotive equivalent of a stealth fighter jet. The Temerario and Revuelto certainly fit that mold. Though lacking the scissor doors, the Urus shows similar sharp-edge styling.
Urus: For 2024, Lamborghini’s Urus adds a new model between the S and the Performante. It’s the SE, a plug-in hybrid serving up a tasty 789 horsepower from its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and single electric motor. (The other two models have a 657-hp V8.) Acceleration performance among all three models is similar, but the SE can drive about 30 miles on battery power alone in virtual silence. Pricing starts at about $242,000.
Temerario: Replacing the Huracán in 2024, the Temerario is a plug-in hybrid that belts out 907 horsepower, a whopping 44 percent leap over its esteemed predecessor. The powertrain combines the output of a new twin-turbo V8 (not the Audi-based engine in the Urus) with three electric motors. Acceleration is quite close to the top-dog Revuelto, and a starting price of around $290,000 is also a sizeable leap over the Huracán.
Revuelto: Unveiled in 2023, the Revuelto replaced the legendary Aventador as Lamborghini’s ultimate production supercar. Named for a “rebellious” fighting bull from over 140 years ago, the Revuelto was also Lamborghini’s first plug-in hybrid. The combination of a 6.5-liter V12 gas engine and three separate electric motors yields up to 1,001 hp on demand. Pricing starts at around $608,000.
From farms to Ferraris
Born to parents wo were grape growers, Ferruccio Lamborghini tinkered with cars and farm tractors after WWII. In 1948 he founded Lamborghini Trattori to mass produce tractors and later started another company to make heating and air conditioning equipment.
From his acquired wealth, Lamborghini treated himself to some fine cars, including several Ferraris. He felt disappointed, however, in their interior appointments and was dissatisfied with reliability issues. Also finding Ferrari’s approach to customer service to be lacking, he decided to make his own cars.
The sign of the bull
Lamborghini aimed right at Ferrari with a V12-powered grand tourer. He hired former Ferrari chief engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to create the engine, while Gianpaolo Dallara would design the chassis. Carrozzeria Touring designed the body and would produce it. For the new automaker’s symbol, Lamborghini selected the bull for his zodiac sign, Taurus.
A new state-of-the-art factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese in northern Italy became the production site. The 1964 Lamborghini 350 GT production model was toned down a bit from the 1963 350 GTZ auto show car, mainly with a higher hood line and exposed headlights to clear the 3.5-liter DOHC V12 engine. The engine gave 280 hp, and the 350 GT used a five-speed manual transmission, while the Ferrari 250 GT Lusso had 250 hp and a four-speed.
As at Ferrari, hand-built production was severely limiting at Lamborghini. After building 120 cars, Lamborghini upgraded the engine to a 320-hp 4.0-liter, giving the car a new 400 GT badge. Production remained low, with 270 400 GTs made. One of those sold to a fellow named Paul McCartney, who was earning quite a good living playing in a successful little musical group called The Beatles.
Miura: Birth of the modern supercar
Bizzarrini and Dalara next wanted Lamborghini to build a racecar, but Ferruccio was not interested in racing. So, their idea morphed into a radical new mid-engine road car, the 1968 P400 Miura. With a body penned by Bertone’s Marcello Gandini, the Miura became the world’s first mid-engine supercar for the road.
The Miura took its name from a renowned bull breeder in Spain and would start the company’s tradition of pulling names from the world of bullfighting. The next one was the redesigned 400 GT, called Islero, with just 225 made for 1968-1969. The spacey four-seat Espada arrived at the same time, while the final front-engine Lamborghini GT, the 2+2 Jarama, came in for 1971.
That wild and crazy Countach
If the Miura had shaken up Ferrari, the response was not evident right away. The Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer, the automaker’s first 12-cylinder mid-engine model, was first shown in 1971 and did not arrive until 1973, just as the Miura’s replacement, the Countach, showed up.
The Countach – which did not get its name from bullfighting – became the poster car for what many thought an audacious Italian supercar should be. This iconic model continued in various forms, ending with the Countach 25th Anniversary built from 1988-1990. A Countach reboot based on the Aventador was issued in 2022, with just 112 made at a price of $2.6M each.
Slipping in the seventies
Lamborghini’s 1972 Uracco beat Ferrari’s 308 Dino to market with a mid-engine V8 “junior supercar,” but just under 800 were made. It later evolved into the Jalpa and then the Silhouette. By then, Ferruccio Lamborghini had sold his auto-making and tractor-building operations to focus on his farm and winery. The tractor company is still going strong, and still using the same shared trademark bull logo as the carmaker.
Worsening economic woes forced Lamborghini into bankruptcy in the late Seventies. The next owner launched a unusual three-ton, V12-powered SUV, the LM002. In 1987, Chrysler took a run at owning Lamborghini for a while and replaced the Countach with the Diablo, which in 1993 put the company on its path to all-wheel drive supercars.
A new era dawns
A succession of stunning supercars continued to make a clear distinction from archrival Ferrari (and now McLaren, as well). After the Diablo came the Murciélago, and then the Aventador. In 2003, a new entry model, the V10-powered Gallardo, became the first direct competitor to the modern mid-engine Ferraris.
The Gallardo expanded Lamborghini’s global appeal, becoming its most prolific model, with some 14,000 built before the Huracán swept in to best it. Lamborghini has also been catering to its most affluent customers with the Limited Series hypercars, including the Reventon, Sian, Sesto Elemento, Centenario, Veneno, and the Countach revival model. Aside from the Urus SUV, Lamborghini has offered only mid-engine supercars since 1979. The 2024 Lamborghini lineup definitively (and defiantly) shows that Lamborghini will continue building some of the world’s most thrilling automobiles, regardless of the propulsion method.