Driven: Lambo's new Murciélago

Lambo asked our man Sutcliffe to join them for a secret sign-off test at Nardo in Italy

The sound from the engine and exhaust is smoother and less grainy than in a Murciélago

This car feels both more refined and less physically intimidating than of old

The ride is calm and controlled in a way that a Murciélago owner simply wouldn’t recognise

It feels fundamentally better balanced, as if it has a much lower, broader centre of gravity

The kick of acceleration is genuinely outrageous in second gear

The SV feels clunky and old beside the new car

It feels as if it won’t tear your arms off and then kick you in the unmentionables

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Quite a cocktail, in other words, as long as you’ve got the balls to go with it

Lambo 4dr saloon is back on

Lamborghini looks set to give the Estoque four-door the green light for production above an SUV project.

Chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann revealed last month that the firm is again considering adding a third model to its range. Now he has told Autocar that his preferred option for the new car is a four-door, distancing himself from internet speculation that the firm is preparing a super-luxury SUV as an indirect successor to the LM002 off-roader.

See pics of the Lamborghini Estoque saloon concept

“We have opportunities outside the supercar business, and we showed that with Estoque,” said Winkelmann. “It had a more enthusiastic response than we had expected. It was the right time to see if the brand could go outside of supercars. Even now, people are still emailing me about us making the Estoque.

“We really have a choice when it comes to an additional model: an SUV or a four-seat four-door. And for me the SUV is a no-go. It doesn’t exist in our price segment, and it’s not a real luxury car.”

Winkelmann said a four-door in the mould of the Estoque could attract new buyers to Lamborghini by offering a more practical proposition than the company’s two-seaters. “There are more opportunities in the segment of four-doors,” he said. “If we are going to offer a third model, it could be a ‘first’ car, bringing people to our brand.”

Read more on Lambo's plans to revive the Estoque

The choice of a four-door is almost certainly also linked to Lamborghini’s improving fortunes in China, where luxury saloons are enjoying strong sales. But Winkelmann insisted the increasing importance of new markets would not affect the core values of the Lamborghini brand.

“Other car companies have to adjust their products for these areas,” he said, “but luxury brands are the opposite. The customer wants the original, not something that’s been adapted to them. So they want a Lamborghini exactly as it would be in Italy.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept

The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Auto Show this month. Star of the Italian maker’s Paris Motor Show stand is the astonishing Sesto Elemento. The Sesto Elemento Concept is a brutal sports car weighing just 999 kg. It’s Lamborghini’s first example of its new supersports car manifesto - same power but less weight.

“The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento shows how the future of the super sports car can look – extreme lightweight engineering, combined with extreme performance results in extreme driving fun. We put all of our technological competence into one stunning form to create the Sesto Elemento,” said Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. “It is our abilities in carbon-fiber technology that have facilitated such a forward-thinking concept, and we of course also benefit from the undisputed lightweight expertise of Audi AG. Systematic lightweight engineering is crucial for future super sports cars: for the most dynamic performance, as well as for low emissions. We will apply this technological advantage right across our model range. Every future Lamborghini will be touched by the spirit of the Sesto Elemento.”

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept

Additional 100 percent by AUDI AG, the Italian car manufacturer also benefits from the expertise that is not necessary from the German manufacturer when it comes to light construction. With an amazing output of 570 hp, a sensational power-to-weight ratio of just 1.75 kilograms per hp and 0 to 100 km / h (0-62 mph) acceleration of only 2.5 arcseconds, which ensures unsurpassed Elemento Sesto aim fun .

The 2010 Lamborghini Sport Cars Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept has a power-weight ratio of 1.75 kg/hp. It reaches 100 km/hr in just 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of “well over 300 km/hr”. It’s exactly the kind of supercar innovation that Lamborghini should be investing in and while carbon fibre has become famous, the company has also experimented with other modern materials, such as Pyrosic for the exhaust system (a new glass and ceramic composite material).

The Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory (ACSL) at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, uses experimental tests to define the mechanical behaviour of the different materials and technologies using methodology from the aviation industry.

The design is inspired by the limited-edition Reventòn supercar, but makes more of a feature of its deep front end, while the V10 is open to the elements. The Sesto Elemento isn’t road legal, but it is a running prototype, so testing Lamborghini’s claims is a possibility.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept

2011 Lamborghini Super Sport Cars

The LP570-4 Blancpain Edition was presented today by Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, and Marc A. Hayek, President and CEO of Blancpain, at the final race weekend of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo in the “Piero Taruffi” circuit, Vallelunga. The road-legal Blancpain Edition celebrates the two-year relationship between the Italian supercar brand and the watchmaker. Lamborghini’s partnership with Blancpain, the watch maker, is no longer limited to the Super Trofeo racing series as they unveiled together the first road-going Blancpain edition Lamborghini Gallardo.

The new features of the 2011 Lamborghini Super Sport Cars Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition are easily noticeable. It comes with a huge front bumper, massive rear spoiler and diffuser, and new side skirts. These bits are all inspired by the actual racing car, but they look a bit too aggressive for a road car. One other feature derived from the racing model is the new engine cover, which is optimized for better ventilation, and looks superb!

Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition

“Lamborghini super sports cars is extremely happy about its cooperation with Blancpain. In just its second year, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo has established itself in the premier league of gentlemen’s racing,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. “Each race is a battle of dedication and passion for every single hundredth of a second – something that characterizes both of our brands. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition demonstrates the close bond between our road-going super sports cars and the race car.”

The engine that powers the Gallardo Blancpain is the same V10 unit from the series Superleggera production car which churns out 570 hp. Given the 1340 kilograms (2954 lb) weight of the car which results in power-to-weight ratio of 2.35 kilograms (5.18 lb) per hp, this car is capable of going from zero to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 3.4 seconds and flies past the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark only 6.8 seconds later, ultimately exceeding 320 km/h (199 mph).

Blancpain is the title sponsor of the successful Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series. The cooperation between these two brands brings together the highest levels of engineering excellence from the automotive and chronometry industries. Blancpain has been producing innovative masterpieces of watch-making art in Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux since 1735. Each timepiece is assembled by one single watchmaker, reflecting the quality and individual attention with which Lamborghini builds its super sports cars for the road, and its 570 hp Super Trofeo race cars.

Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition

Abaut Lamborghini Gallardo : The Lamborghini Gallardo (Italian pronunciation: [ga'?arðo][citation needed]) is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini's most-produced model to date, with over 10,000 built in its first seven years of production. Each car costs about $180,000 to $210,000. The car is named after a famous breed of fighting bull. The Spanish word gallardo translates into "gallant".

The Gallardo offers two choices of transmissions, a conventional (H-Box) six-speed manual transmission, and an advanced six-speed electro-hydraulically controlled semi-automatic robotized manual, which Lamborghini abbreviates to "E-gear". The "E-gear" allows the driver to make shifts much faster than a manual transmission would. The driver shifts up and down via paddles behind the steering wheel, but also has an automatic mode.

Lamborghini

The doors still haven't quite opened up at the Paris Motor Show and already the leakage has begun in full force. Yesterday we got a sneak peek at the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept, but the lone photo was small and grainy. Thankfully, the wait for real images is now over mere minutes before the car is officially unveiled at an evening event held by the Volkswagen Group in Paris as we speak. A total of five shots of the carbon-intensive supercar have just hit the interwebs, and they didn't come from Lamborghini.

To put it mildly, we like what we see. As could be seen in the series of teasers officially let loose by the boys from Lamborghini, every single bit of the car has been fashioned from carbon fiber. Suitable, then, that the car has been named after the sixth element of the periodic table – Sesto Elemento literally means sixth element in Italian. Even the tailpipes have been fashioned from a sort of composite called Pyrosic that is able to withstand extremely high temperatures.

Those high exhaust temperatures will be exhaled by a V10 engine that's putting out a stonkin' 570 horsepower. With just 2,200 pounds of weight to move, the run to 60 will take less than 2.5 seconds.

Lamborghini

Unlike the great majority of things in life, the Lamborghini Gallardo just keeps getting better and better. And then better. First came the 2007 Superleggera and it was wonderful. One year later saw the introduction of the LP560-4 and it's safe to say that quite a few of us on staff here at Autoblog would choose it as our "lottery car." Then, while we were busy losing money on Power Ball, Lamborghini came out with the rear-wheel-drive Valentino Balboni. And while we're still busy picking our jaws up off the floor from that stunner, Lambo drops this lime-green bombshell in our lap.

Meet the 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera. The numbers are stoo-pid good. Ready? 561 horsepower from the now quite familiar 5.2-liter V10, which is up from 523 hp in the 2007 model). The Superleggera also weighs just 2,954 pounds. The last Superleggera tipped the scales at (a still light) 3,153 lbs, which means the new, much more powerful car is 199 pounds lighter. In fact, it weighs 33 pounds less than a Porsche Boxster – which is nuts. How'd Lambo pull it off? Well, Superleggera means "light weight" in Italian. That being said, the weight savings mostly come from carbon fiber with the rest of the fat being trimmed off the lightweight aluminum wheels.

In person, the LP570-4 looks fantastic, especially in screaming Lamborghini green. The big visual news is the massive, Reventon-inspired front air intakes, but we like the giant rear diffuser even more. In fact, we can't think of a single thing we don't like about the latest fighting bull from Sant'Agata, save the not-yet-announced price tag. Which is why we're so big on the lottery.