News: Something Wicked This Way Comes
December 1, 2007
Lamborghini Reventón
Many supercars are more common than the name implies, with
models like the Mercedes McLaren SLR produced by the thousands. This is
certainly not the case for the Lamborghini Reventón. By far the most exclusive,
expensive car in the company’s history, only 20 will be built—costing
€1 million
each, or $1.4 million at today’s dispiriting exchange rates.
Named after a Mexican bull that gored his human adversary to death in 1943, the Reventón takes design inspiration from jet aircrafts, including its arrow-shaped snout and reconfigurable LED readouts in place of traditional gauges.
Yet beneath its green-gray, carbon-fiber skin, the Reventón’s Kobe-priced meat is largely similar to that of the Murciélago LP640 coupe—Lambo’s fighting bull that starts at just $325,200. The car shares the Murciélago’s mid-engine chassis and showcases the same 6.5-liter V-12 under its laminated glass panel. That engine supplies 650 hp, 10 more than the LP640, to all four wheels via the 6-speed, e-gear paddleshift transmission. Lamborghini claims a 3.4-second catapult to 60 mph, and a 211-mph top speed.
Clearly, the 400 percent markup over an LP640 didn’t bother potential clients invited to view a 4:1 scale model of the Reventón at hush-hush, no-camera meetings in Santa Monica, Pebble Beach, and Sant’Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini’s home, in late summer. All 20 editions were snapped up within weeks of the presentations.
Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini CEO, says buyers immediately grasped the car’s message, "It was simple: You will never see more than 20 of these cars in the world, that best reflects the values of the company—Extreme, uncompromising, and Italian."
Winkelmann declined to identify any of the 20, but said that 10 or 11 cars are bound for the U.S., the rest to Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. Production is expected to start in January, with deliveries beginning in March.
Lamborghini, www.lamborghini.com
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