2012 Lamborghini Aventador Awd on 2040-cars

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This fresh Lambo Diablo SV could be yours for $500k

This Diablo isn't just any Diablo: it's a Diablo SV – shorthand for Super Veloce, or really fast. It was the last model that Sant'Agata offered with a V12, a manual, and rear-wheel drive. Despite being 17 years old now, it has just a single mile on the odometer. It features a titanium exterior paint and a black interior, and could hardly appeal to our childhood sense of wonder any more if it had rocket launchers popping out of the fenders. It's offered for sale by the Lamborghini dealership in Montreal – one of North America's great racing capitals, where supercars are thick on the ground in the summer. It can be yours for $499,900. Now if you're thinking that much money could get you into a new Aventador SV, you would be correct. But though the latest version may be empirically better in just about any way you could measure – including a 223-horsepower advantage – it lacks the Diablo's old-school appeal. If you have the money, the choice is yours. Related Video:

Lamborghini struggles to cap its own production to maintain brand exclusivity

Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, and so on demand high prices, and that's not just because you’re buying incredible performance, technology and luxury. YouÂ’re also buying exclusivity. Recently, however, Wall Street and shareholders have been pressuring supercar makers to produce more cars and yield more profits. The problem is that higher production volume compromises exclusivity and dilutes the brand. So while LamborghiniÂ’s shareholders want the company to produce more cars, executives are seeking to impose limits and cap production. "We must not go on growing forever. We now have to consolidate these results and preserve exclusivity," Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali told reporters at an event inaugurating the companyÂ’s newest paint and body shop at the SantÂ’Agata Bolognese plant in Italy. The execs are having limited success, however, as the company announced that it plans to sell more than 8,000 cars this year, which is “the right dimension of our company with our current product portfolio,” Domenicali said. A run of 8,000 cars would be an increase of 39 percent from 2018's total of 5,750 new Lambos. It has been a strong decade for Lamborghini; a mere 1,302 vehicles were sold back in 2010. However, that goal of 8,000 could swell to around 10,000 cars, depending on whether the company adds another model to its small lineup. Such a case would have to be deliberated among shareholders. Lamborghini saw considerable growth in the first quarter of this year, likely attributed to the launch of its Urus SUV. So far, analysts are forecasting an increase in revenue to around 1.7 billion euros, or $1.92 billion USD, up from 1.42 billion euros or $1.6 billion USD in 2018, said Chief Financial Officer Paolo Poma. At the same event, Lamborghini confirmed that an electric supercar is not in its future at this time as “customers are currently not interested,” Poma said. However, Lamborghini is indeed seeking to add hybrid vehicles to its lineup by 2025, as itÂ’s pressured to lower CO2 emissions and meet future mandates. The Urus is expected to be one of the cars receiving a hybrid powertrain, as it is not planned to get a V10 or V12 engine.

Lamborghini reveals Aventador Nazionale in Beijing

Special editions have proven themselves a great way for high-end automakers to get a little bit more for their wares, but they appear to be gradually being taken over by personalization programs that allow customers to order their exotic new wheels just as they want them. After all, what's the point in ordering a special color scheme someone else has chosen when you can choose it yourself, with special wheels and interior upholstery to match?
Lamborghini has just such a program. It's called Ad Personam, and like the customization catalogs offered by other automakers, it allows its clients to specify any range of stylistic parameters to suit their own taste. To showcase the program, Lamborghini brought a customized Aventador to the Beijing Motor Show. Called the Nazionale edition, it's got a white paintjob with tricolore racing stripes up the hood, anthracite wheels, and a blue leather interior.
It's similar to the Gallardo Tricolore that rolled out of Sant'Agata three years ago - the kind of treatment we'd otherwise call a special edition, but despite carrying a different name, it just goes to show the possibilities Lamborghini offers it customers. For the right price, of course.