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Lamborghini exploring more elegant designs

Ferrari's front-engined V12s and mid-engined V8s have taken turns monopolizing the brand's perception; the 550 Maranello was probably the last front-engined V12 to be first-to-mind, now the 458 Italia leads the family. Not so at Lamborghini, where a mid-engined V12 has been the go-to and centerpiece since the extraterrestrial Countach landed, and it still is no matter how much the Huracan outsells the Aventador. That shape, those doors, that engine – they're the franchise. That doesn't mean Lamborghini isn't trying new things. The Asterion LPI 910-4 concept from last year's Paris Motor Show was more than the marque's first draft of a hybrid, it was an exploration of a different avenue in design. According to design chief Filippo Perini, "We need to understand if we can open another window in our future to be not so extreme but also a little bit more politically correct and elegant." The Asterion points at elegance and "a daily use of the car" with more room inside, a slimmer rocker panel and sill for easier entry, and a raised hip point in the seats for a higher driving position. Perini said that from the driver's seat, "You can see the color of the car. That is something unknown in our very extreme designs." Extreme Lamborghinis aren't going away, however – note that Perini spoke of opening "another window" of design. The goal, he said, "is to understand if [its] design language will be appreciated by a different kind of customer." We can't imagine why not, and we hope we get more news about the "hyper cruiser" GT outside of magazine articles and auto show grandstanding. If it were up to us, Lamborghini would open that window all the way.

Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato could be bound for limited production

Lamborghini has been seriously upping its production overt the years. When Audi took over in the late 1990s, the company's production was measured in the 200-unit range. Now it's making over 2,000 cars every year. But at the same time, Sant'Agata has been focusing on low-volume production as well, with a separate assembly line dedicated to putting together concept cars and limited editions like the Sesto Elemento and Veneno. And now it may just have another on its hands.
That would be the Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato, a unique coachbuilt supercar based on the Gallardo and unveiled last week at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este on the shores of Italy's glamorous Lake Como. It was commissioned as a one-off custom for noted Lambo and Zagato collector Albert Spiess, but reports suggest that it could be put into limited production.
The viability of the project would likely depend on how many orders the Italians might garner for an expanded production run. Whether the project would be undertaken at Lamborghini's special projects facility or off-site by Zagato remains to be seen, but you can bet it would fetch a pretty penny or two, despite the fact that the platform on which it's based is now over a decade old and has since been replaced by the newer Huracán.

Lamborghini explains why the Sian is not a preview of its next design language

Lamborghini pushed the boundaries of its design language with the sold-out Sian, but its head designer explained the project's goal wasn't to preview future cars. The company's first hybrid model will remain its own thing. "With the Sian, with the coupe and now the Roadster, we have closed this project. It is a masterpiece, we have a very special color for each, but this language is just for the Sian. Whatever we design in the future, we will follow the design DNA of Lamborghini. Just to repeat the Sian one more time would be way too easy, the expectations here at Lamborghini are much higher, so the future is always open," design boss Mitja Borkert told Autoblog. Lamborghini will make 19 examples of the Sian Roadster, and 63 units of the coupe, numbers chosen because the company was founded in 1963. Borkert's team designed the model with a high degree of customization in mind to ensure no two examples are exactly alike. Once they're assigned a build slot, buyers will work directly with Lamborghini's designers and its Ad Personam personalization department to configure their car. "The Sian is really something I want to turn into a masterpiece. My personal promise is that each and every car will be completely unique in terms of look, in terms of color, and in terms of material," Borkert assured us. Lamborghini Sian Roadster View 13 Photos Meanwhile, work on the Aventador's replacement — whose name hasn't been revealed — continues, and we hear it's about a year from making its debut. Although it won't look anything like the Sian, Lamborghini previously confirmed the model will arrive as a hybrid in order to offer more power than its predecessor without summoning a dark cloud of disapproval from regulators. Technical details about the gasoline-electric technology it will use haven't been announced yet, but hybrid systems will play a large role in the company's future range. "This kind of hybridization will be fundamental in order to respect all of the rules, and to guarantee that our DNA is protected," affirmed Maurizio Reggiani, the head of Lamborghini's research and development department. He again stressed that getting rid of the V12 — or turbocharging/supercharging it — is completely out of the question.   Like every carmaker, Lamborghini was caught off-guard by the on-going coronavirus pandemic and the lock-downs enforced globally in a bid to prevent the disease from spreading.