A lot of very cool things came out of the 1960s. From music to fashion to social change, it was a pretty exciting decade. It was also the decade that saw a man who made tractors decide to build sports cars, and in the process establish what would be come one of the world’s coolest and most iconic car manufacturers.

That man was Ferruccio Lamborghini, and 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of his company, Automobili Lamborghini.

Ferruccio was born in 1916 in Renazzo, a small town in northern Italy. After serving in the Italian Air Force during World War II, he would establish a tractor manufacturing business, Lamborghini Trattori, in 1948 – a business that became very successful and which, by the early 1960s, had made Ferruccio a very
rich man.

Despite his success in the tractor business, Lamborghini was a car enthusiast at heart. He owned several high-end sports cars but was, apparently, often frustrated by their lack of reliability.

Legend has it that Ferruccio, unimpressed with some aspects of a Ferrari he owned, actually had a run-in with Enzo Ferrari over clutch issues. The story goes that during this conversation, a bristling Enzo, irritated at Ferruccio’s efforts to engage him on solutions to the car’s shortcomings, told him to stick to building tractors.
Whether that story is true or not, it is true that Ferruccio resolved to build his own sports cars, and it wasn’t long before the first model from his new company, Automobili Lamborghini, made its debut.

Established in 1963, Lamborghini debuted a prototype – the 350GTV – at that year’s Turin Auto Show. A head-turning two-door, two-seat Grand Tourer that sported a new, Lamborghini-developed, 268kW, 3-litre V12 under the bonnet, the 350GTV showed Ferruccio was serious about his sportscar/GT-building ambitions and the next year, the company’s first production car, the 350 GT, appeared.

Built from 1964 to 1966, the 350 GT was a redesigned version of the GTV. It still boasted a V12 and kept much of the sleek prototypes styling. It could also tear to 100km/h in 6.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 250km/h – awesome performance for the time.

Just 120 of the 350 GTs were built over the two years of its production life, and another 250 of an evolutionary model, the 2+2 seater 400 GT. But Ferruccio and Lamborghini had made a loud statement that there was another maker of awesome sportscars on the scene, and things were going to get interesting.

In 1966, Lamborghini introduced the Miura, a mid-engine supercar that is widely considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Sublime styling – care of gifted designer Marcello Gandini of Bertone – was paired with a 4-liter V12 engine that produced 270kW, and the Miura was capable of reaching speeds of up to 290km/h, making it the fastest production car in the world. It was a sensation, and Lamborghini would build around 760 of them, in two variants, through its production life.

During those years, Lamborghini would introduce other models. In 1968, the Espada four-seater debuted, as did the Islero, a 2+2 coupe that was the successor to the 400GT. The Jarama 2+2 grand tourer followed in 1970, and the Urraco, a V8-powered 2+2 coupe, in 1972.

These were all fine cars, with nice styling and design and decent power, but it would be Lamborghini’s next effort that would make the biggest splash, that would show the company was not afraid to push the boundaries of sportscar design to the extreme, and that would go on to become one of the most iconic cars of all time.

Debuting in 1971 as a prototype at the Geneva Motor Show, the Countach – designed by Marcello Gandini and considered a replacement for the Miura – featured a 4-litre V12 nestled in behind the driver, and boasted a unique, jaw-dropping, angular design that made it look like the Countach could smash the speed of light and hit warp speed without breaking a sweat.

A rapturous response to the protoype’s appearance at Geneva ensured it would go into production and the first model, the LP400, made it into roads in 1974.
The Countach would become Lamborghini’s most famous creation, with many variants appearing over its production life. The final version of its initial production run was the 25th Anniversary edition of 1988. That one was powered by a 5.2-litre, V12 developing 335kW and 500Nm that blasted it to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds on to a top
speed of 298km/h.

While the Countach would be replaced at the end of the 1980s, such has been its importance, that Lamborghini would celebrate the car’s 50th birthday in 2021 by revealing a low-production special – the LPI 800-4. Keeping with tradition, the LPI 800-4 has wicked styling and brutal power, but it’s a sophisticated car too, with its 6.5-litre V12 paired with an electric motor to give the hybrid beast a combined 599kW of grunt.

While the Countach was a sensation when it first appeared, the company itself was in some financial strife by this time – as were many thanks to a global financial downturn and the infamous 1973 oil crisis – and Ferruccio sold the company in 1974. Just one new car, the Silhouette would appear over the next few years until the company came into the hands of the Mimran brothers in 1980.

Their investment in Lamborghini would see the development of the V8-powered Jalpa and the LM002, the outrageous off-road monster that surely no one expected a sportscar-maker to build but which, perhaps, foresaw the current obsession with SUVs and off-roaders that there is today.

In 1987, Lamborghini was bought by Chrysler, under whose stewardship the excellent Diablo appeared in 1990. A return to the bonkers styling of the Countach, the V12-powered Diablo was well received, but Chrysler did not hold onto the company for long.

In 1994, Lamborghini was sold to an Indonesian conglomerate before finally being bought by Audi and the Volkswagen Group, where it remains to this day.

Since 1998, Lamborghini has continued to introduce some breathtaking sportscars. The Murcielago was built from 2001 to 2010, the Gallardo appeared in 2003 and was produced to 20134, and the Aventador, a 6.5-litre V12-powered monster capable of reaching 350km/h, debuted in 2011.

Currently, the company also builds the two-door, 5.2-litre V10-powered Huracan, and the Urus SUV.

Moving into the SUV market, as have many of its luxury carmaker peers, has been a major success for Lamborghini. On the market from 2018, the Urus established a record for the company when, in 2022, and after hitting the 20,000-sales mark, it became Lamborghini’s biggest selling model in the lowest period of time.

The future looks pretty bright for the company – it reported its best year ever in 2022, delivering 9,233 cars worldwide (5,367 of those being Urus models), an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year – and, it is certainly more ‘raging bull’ than ‘aging bull’.

It is not treading water when it comes to embracing technological advancements in the industry. Back in 2021, Lamborghini unveiled a strategy that would see the highest-ever investment in the company (€1.8 billion or $AU2.8 billion) – an investment that would fund the company’s move into the production of hybrid cars and electric cars.
It probably might feel a little weird to be driving a Lamborghini powered by silent motors fed with electrons rather than a noisy, potent V12, but as long as the performance is there, and the company doesn’t lose its taste for the outrageous and bonkers styling, we reckon we will all get used it.

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (March 2023)

13 March 2023