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Lamborghini LB48H hypercar due next year: You might even say it glows

We know there's a hybrid Lamborghini Aventador successor coming sometime between 2020 and 2022. Due to deleted Instagram posts and a fissures in the rumor-verse, we expect a hypercar codenamed LB48H to preview the next electrified V12 Lamborghini. Autocar reports the next model in the Italian carmaker's series of low-volume specials will cost about $2.6 million, making it just another walk in the hypercar park as for price. The weird part is where Road & Track, referencing "a source familiar with Lamborghini's plans," says the LB48H will glow in the dark. The source didn't elaborate, so not even RT knows what that means. The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio concept from 2017 revealed a smattering of Tron-like light sculpture in its launch video. The wheels and engine bay glow, illuminated Italian flag graphics mark the front fenders, LED piping runs down the centerline. But lights don't come under the traditional definition of "glow in the dark." If the LB48H really does sport some kind of overall incandescence, well, we're about to enter a new chapter in hypercars. Other questions remain about how the LB48H will preview the future of Sant' Agata. The company's head of R&D has bemoaned the weight of batteries, admitting that the best-case scenario for the coming series-production hybrid V12 flagship means an additional 330 to 440 pounds. It's thought that the hypercar will use supercapacitors instead of batteries, providing a lightweight solution that would also showcase future technical potential. The all-electric Terzo Millennio employed nascent supercapacitor tech Lamborghini has been developing with MIT. That solution's upside is lighter size and weight compared to batteries, longer service life, a supercapacitor's fast charge and discharge ability, and the fact that it can discharge and recover energy at the same time. The downside is that supercapacitors have low energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries, so it's possible the LB48H could use a battery and a supercapacitor to work a 49-horsepower motor aiding an 789-hp V12. The production V12 is expected to get a more mundane solution. Lamborghini's looking ahead to cities mandating a minimum all-electric range up to 31 miles. One idea in play is a split hybrid layout, with an electric motor in charge of the front axle. That eliminates a prop shaft, and sharpens front axle response and torque vectoring.

Rare early Lamborghini Countach sells for record $1.2 million

Lamborghini may have made headlines with the highly exclusive, $4.5-million Veneno and the even more expensive Veneno Roadster that followed, but when it comes to classics sold at auction, their prices seldom approach the kind of figures attained by rare classics made by arch-rival Ferrari. Early 350 GTs and rare Miuras (like the SV prototype Gooding sold a few years ago for a record $1.7 million) have been known to breach the seven-figure mark, but now the Countach is making its way into the big leagues as well.
Pictured here is a rather exceptional early example sold by Bonhams in Connecticut last week. This 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 "Periscopica" - so dubbed for the unique rearview mirror fitted to the first 150 examples made - has just over 10,000 miles on the odometer. With flawlessly retouched Blu Tahiti (read: French racing blue) paint and an immaculate deep tan leather interior, the Periscopica was the subject of feverish bidding before selling for $1.2 million to a buyer present at the auction, beating out a dozen or so telephone bidders.
The record price for a Countach trumps the previous record, also set by Bonhams at the Quail Lodge last August, where another '75 Periscopica sold for $836,000. The rising prices surely reflect the coming of age for the Countach, now nearly 40 years since its introduction - particularly for the generation that grew up idolizing it as the prototypical supercar. Scope it out in the artful gallery of 76 high-resolution images above and the details of the auction below.

Admire 350 Lamborghinis lined up at 50th Anniversary Tour

If you're a fan of Lamborghini then you'll want to set aside 13 minutes of your time for this video. The Sant' Agata carmaker is hosting a 50th Anniversary Tour from Milan to Rome and then back up to the factory in Bologna, and the 350 entries in this running of the bulls were staged on a Milan street. YouTube user Shmee150 is with the convoy and he spent the aforementioned 13 minutes walking among the field of glory that spans models from 1963 to now.
None of the cars were running so the video lacks the audio thrill of the supercars merging onto the M6 in the UK. As a virtual tour of Italian art museum showcasing a massive outdoor exhibit of Lamborghinis, however, it can't be beat. Don't hesitate to check out the video below.