49 Fun Facts About Lamborghini

In which town near Bologna is Lamborghini headquartered?

Lamborghini has been based at Sant'Agata Bolognese, about 25 km from Bologna, since Ferruccio opened the factory there in 1963; the site doubled in size for the Urus.

In which year did Ferruccio Lamborghini found Automobili Lamborghini?

Ferruccio Lamborghini founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 at Sant'Agata Bolognese to take on Ferrari, bankrolled by the industrial businesses he already ran.

What did Ferruccio Lamborghini's first company, founded in 1948, manufacture?

Lamborghini Trattori, which Ferruccio founded in Cento in 1948 to build tractors, was sold to SAME in 1973 and survives as a brand of SAME Deutz-Fahr.

Ferruccio's early 'Carioca' farm machines were built from what?

He used engine parts from military vehicles and Morris truck engines.

Ferruccio's 1948 Mille Miglia ended when he crashed his modified Fiat Topolino into what?

He turned the Topolino into a 750cc open two-seater and lasted about 1,100 km before ploughing into the side of a restaurant in Fano.

What did Ferruccio find inferior on his own Ferraris, prompting a complaint that Enzo brushed off?

The clutches on his Ferrari 250 GTs kept failing; technicians took the car away for hours to rebuild them, and Enzo dismissed the complaint.

Ferruccio adopted the raging bull emblem after visiting the Seville ranch of which breeder of fighting bulls?

Ferruccio was himself a Taurus; the fourth Miura car was unveiled to the breeder at his ranch.

In which year was Ferruccio Lamborghini born?

Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on 28 April 1916 in Renazzo, a hamlet of Cento near Ferrara, to a family of grape farmers.

Which two-seat grand tourer, bodied by Touring of Milan, was Lamborghini's first production car?

The 350 GT, launched in 1964 with a 3.5-litre V12 and aluminium bodywork by Carrozzeria Touring, was the first production Lamborghini; around 120 were built.

Which 1966 Lamborghini mounted its V12 transversely behind the seats?

The Miura, unveiled at Geneva in 1966, carried its 3.9-litre V12 transversely behind the cabin and was claimed as the world's fastest production car at launch.

The Miura was designed by Lamborghini's engineers in their spare time, against the wishes of whom?

Ferruccio himself preferred sedate grand tourers but let the project continue as a showpiece after the bare P400 chassis drew crowds at the 1965 Turin show.

Which designer's sleek styling of the Miura made his reputation at the 1966 Geneva show?

Marcello Gandini, 27 and newly hired by Bertone, drew the Miura; its debut at the March 1966 Geneva show made his name overnight.

The Miura won worldwide attention in the opening sequence of which 1969 film?

The Italian Job opens with an orange Miura sweeping through the Alps to Matt Monro's 'On Days Like These' before a Mafia bulldozer shoves the wreck off a cliff.

The Countach's name comes from an expletive in which regional dialect?

'Contacc' is a Piedmontese exclamation of astonishment; Gandini recalled a workshop hand blurting it on first seeing the prototype.

Which design house, pioneer of the sharply angled wedge shape, styled the Countach?

Bertone, where Gandini had already drawn the wedge-shaped Lancia Stratos Zero concept of 1970, styled the Countach LP500 prototype shown at Geneva in 1971.

What distinctive type of door did the Countach introduce to Lamborghini's road cars?

The Countach's scissor doors hinge at the front and swing straight up; the Diablo, Murciélago and Aventador all kept them.

What does the 'LP' in Lamborghini designations such as LP400 stand for?

LP stands for 'longitudinale posteriore', Italian for longitudinal rear: the V12 sits lengthwise behind the cabin, unlike the Miura's transverse layout.

Which future supercar maker restyled the 25th Anniversary Countach of 1988?

Horacio Pagani, then running Lamborghini's composites shop, reworked the body of the 1988 25th Anniversary Countach, which kept the 5000 QV's mechanicals.

Which was the first production Lamborghini with a top speed above 200 mph?

The Diablo of 1990 was the first production Lamborghini to top 200 mph (325 km/h); its name, Spanish for devil, honours a bull that fought El Chicorro in Madrid in 1869.

What did 'VT' stand for on the 1993 all-wheel-drive version of Lamborghini's V12 flagship?

VT stood for Viscous Traction: a viscous coupling in the Diablo VT could send up to 25% of torque to the front wheels when the rear axle slipped.

Which American company bought Lamborghini in 1987 and had Gandini's V12 design smoothed out in Detroit?

Chrysler sold the firm on in 1994 to MegaTech.

Which two investment groups owned Lamborghini between its American owner and Volkswagen?

Malaysia's Mycom Setdco and Indonesia's V'Power bought Lamborghini from Chrysler through the MegaTech holding in 1994 and sold it on to the Volkswagen Group in 1998.

Under which Volkswagen Group division has Lamborghini sat since 1998?

Lamborghini itself controls Ducati and Italdesign Giugiaro among its subsidiaries.

In which year did Lamborghini go bankrupt before being rescued by the Mimran brothers?

Lamborghini was declared bankrupt in 1978 and run by court-appointed receivers until the Mimran brothers took over management in 1980, buying it outright in 1984.

Which mid-engined BMW began as a Lamborghini development contract that fell behind schedule in the 1970s?

The BMW M1 was to be built by Lamborghini, but its 1978 cash crisis made BMW take the project in-house, with Baur assembling the Giugiaro-bodied cars from late 1978.

Which driver's third place for Larrousse at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix was Lamborghini's best F1 result?

Aguri Suzuki drove his Lamborghini-powered Larrousse-Lola to third at Suzuka in 1990, the first podium for a Japanese driver and the only one for a Lamborghini engine.

Which F1 driver was impressed testing a rebadged Lamborghini engine for McLaren in 1993?

Ayrton Senna tested the McLaren MP4/8B with a Chrysler-badged Lamborghini V12 at Silverstone and Estoril in late 1993 and urged McLaren to adopt it, but the team chose Peugeot.

Which was Lamborghini's first new model under Audi, designed by Luc Donckerwolke and launched in 2001?

The Murciélago, launched in 2001 with Luc Donckerwolke's styling, was named after a bull whose life El Lagartijo spared in Córdoba in 1879.

Which V10 model, built 2003-2013, became Lamborghini's best-seller at the time with 14,022 made?

The Gallardo, Lamborghini's V10 entry model from 2003 to 2013, sold 14,022 units and was named for one of the five founding castes of Spanish fighting bull.

Which organisation received two Gallardos in 2004, later using them to transport organs?

The Italian State Police took delivery of two Gallardos in 2004 to mark its 152nd anniversary; they patrolled the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway and carried donor organs.

The Aventador is named after a fighting bull that fought in which Spanish city in 1993?

Aventador was a fighting bull that won the Trofeo de la Peña La Madroñera in Zaragoza in 1993 for its courage; the car launched at Geneva in 2011.

The Urus SUV takes its name from what?

Urus is the Latin name of the aurochs, an extinct wild ox from which domestic cattle descend; the last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.

Which was Lamborghini's first SUV, produced from 1986 to 1993?

The LM002, built from 1986 to 1993, was a V12-powered 4x4 descended from the Cheetah military prototype; around 300 were made.

The Urus shares its MLB Evo platform with which other Volkswagen Group SUVs?

The Urus sits on the Volkswagen Group's MLB Evo platform, shared with the Audi Q7, Bentley Bentayga and Porsche Cayenne (and the VW Touareg); its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is Audi-sourced too.

Which 2023 model, Lamborghini's first plug-in hybrid, succeeded the Aventador?

Its V12 and three electric motors combine for 1,001 hp; the bull Revuelto fought in Barcelona in the 1880s.

Which model, unveiled in August 2024, replaced the Huracán?

The Temerario, revealed at Monterey Car Week in August 2024, pairs a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that revs to 10,000 rpm with three electric motors for 920 PS.

Which Lamborghini was named for the bull that killed the famed matador Manolete in 1947?

Islero was the Miura-bred bull that fatally gored Manolete at Linares on 28 August 1947; Lamborghini used the name for its 1968 grand tourer.

Which one-off 2013 car, built for the company's 50th anniversary, was designed for a single occupant?

The Egoista, a single-seat one-off shaped by Walter de Silva's Volkswagen Group design team, was unveiled at Lamborghini's 50th-anniversary celebrations in May 2013.

The 2010 Sesto Elemento concept was made almost entirely of what, weighing just 999 kg?

Sesto Elemento means 'sixth element', carbon's atomic number; carbon fibre for the chassis, body and wheels kept weight to 999 kg with the Gallardo's V10.

The 2014 Asterion hybrid concept was named after which creature of Greek legend?

Asterion was the Minotaur's given name in Greek myth; the half-man, half-bull hybrid suited a half-petrol, half-electric concept car.

For what, besides cars, did Lamborghini build 8.2-litre V12 engines?

Lamborghini's 8.2-litre marine V12 produced about 940 hp and powered the catamarans of Class 1 World Offshore powerboat racing for years.

In the mid-1980s Lamborghini lent its name to a limited run of what?

The Lamborghini Design 90 sports motorcycles, commissioned under Patrick Mimran and built in tiny numbers by France's Boxer Bikes, used Kawasaki GPz1000RX engines.

Unlike his rival in Maranello, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided early on that his company would not do what?

He saw racing as too expensive, which frustrated engineers who had come from Ferrari.

After retiring in 1974, Ferruccio Lamborghini took up which pursuit on his estate by Lake Trasimeno?

At La Fiorita, his estate at Castiglione del Lago on Lake Trasimeno, Ferruccio took up winemaking, producing a red he called Sangue di Miura.

Who was appointed Lamborghini CEO in November 2020, having previously run Bugatti?

Stephan Winkelmann returned as Lamborghini CEO from 1 December 2020 after running Bugatti, having already led Lamborghini from 2005 to 2016.

Who designed the engine for the first Lamborghini cars in 1963?

Giotto Bizzarrini, fresh from Ferrari, designed the 3.5-litre V12 that powered the first Lamborghinis; Dallara and Stanzani handled the chassis and Scaglione the prototype's body.

What was Lamborghini's very first model, a one-off prototype whose futuristic style flopped?

The 350 GTV, shown at Turin in 1963 with Franco Scaglione's body and pop-up headlights, stayed a one-off; Touring reworked it into the 350 GT.

To whom did Ferruccio Lamborghini sell a majority stake in the company in 1972?

Georges-Henri Rossetti, a Swiss businessman and friend, bought 51% of Automobili Lamborghini in 1972; Ferruccio sold the rest to René Leimer in 1974.

Under the Mimran brothers, which sports car joined the Countach and LM002 in the line-up?

The Jalpa, a 3.5-litre V8 targa launched in 1981 as a cheaper stablemate to the Countach, was dropped by Chrysler in 1988 after just over 400 were built.