50 Fun Facts About Lamborghini

In which town near Bologna is Lamborghini headquartered?

The factory site doubled from 80,000 to 160,000 square metres with the launch of the Urus.

In which year did Ferruccio Lamborghini found Automobili Lamborghini?

He founded it on 7 May 1963 to compete with Ferrari, having already made tractors, boilers and air conditioners.

What did Ferruccio Lamborghini's first company, founded in 1948, manufacture?

Lamborghini Trattori still exists as a separate company in Pieve di Cento.

Ferruccio's early 'Carioca' farm machines were built from what?

He used engine parts from military vehicles and Morris truck engines.

Ferruccio's 1948 Mille Miglia ended when he crashed his modified Fiat Topolino into what?

He had turned the humble city car into a 750cc open two-seater and lasted 1,100 km before hitting the building in Fano.

What did Ferruccio find inferior on his own Ferraris, prompting a complaint that Enzo brushed off?

Technicians would take the car away for hours to rebuild them, much to his annoyance.

Ferruccio adopted the raging bull emblem after visiting the Seville ranch of which breeder of fighting bulls?

Ferruccio was himself a Taurus; the fourth Miura car was unveiled to the breeder at his ranch.

Ferruccio Lamborghini's star sign, said to have influenced the bull emblem, was what?

He was born on 28 April 1916 in Renazzo di Cento.

Which two-seat grand tourer, bodied by Touring of Milan, was Lamborghini's first production car?

The earlier 350 GTV prototype was judged too futuristic and remained a one-off.

Which 1966 Lamborghini was the first high-performance road car with a rear mid-engine, rear-drive layout?

When released it was the fastest production car in the world.

The Miura was designed by Lamborghini's engineers in their spare time, against the wishes of whom?

Ferruccio preferred sedate grand tourers but approved the project when he saw the mule, insisting it never be raced.

Which designer's sleek styling of the Miura made his reputation at the 1966 Geneva show?

He went on to draw the Countach and the original Diablo.

The Miura won worldwide attention in the opening sequence of which 1969 film?

The orange Miura winds through the Alps before meeting a mafia bulldozer.

The Countach's name comes from an expletive in which regional dialect?

Legend says Nuccio Bertone blurted 'contacc!' on first seeing the prototype.

Which design house, pioneer of the sharply angled wedge shape, styled the Countach?

The wedge style debuted with the Lancia Stratos Zero concept in 1970.

What distinctive type of door did the Countach introduce to Lamborghini's road cars?

Care was needed opening them under low ceilings; most later V12 Lamborghinis kept them.

What does the 'LP' in Lamborghini designations such as LP400 stand for?

It means 'longitudinal rear', describing the engine's placement.

Which future supercar maker restyled the 25th Anniversary Countach of 1988?

Mechanically it was very close to the 5000QV.

Which was the first production Lamborghini with a top speed above 200 mph?

Its name is Spanish for devil, after a bull that fought El Chicorro in Madrid in 1869.

What did 'VT' stand for on the 1993 all-wheel-drive version of Lamborghini's V12 flagship?

Up to 25% of torque could go to the front wheels if the rear axle slipped.

Which American company bought Lamborghini in 1987 and had Gandini's V12 design smoothed out in Detroit?

Chrysler sold the firm on in 1994 to MegaTech.

Which two investment groups owned Lamborghini between its American owner and Volkswagen?

They sold to the Volkswagen Group in 1998, which put the brand under Audi.

Under which Volkswagen Group division has Lamborghini sat since 1998?

Lamborghini itself controls Ducati and Italdesign Giugiaro among its subsidiaries.

In which year did Lamborghini go bankrupt before being rescued by the Mimran brothers?

Under the Mimrans the range grew to include the Jalpa and the LM002 off-roader.

Which mid-engined BMW began as a Lamborghini development contract that fell behind schedule in the 1970s?

BMW took the project in-house and had Baur build it, delivering the first car in October 1978.

Which driver's third place for Larrousse at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix was Lamborghini's best F1 result?

The 1992 Larrousse-Lamborghini was better known for spraying oil that turned following cars yellowish-brown.

Which F1 driver was impressed testing a rebadged Lamborghini engine for McLaren in 1993?

Lamborghini supplied F1 engines to Larrousse, Lotus, Ligier, Minardi and Modena between 1989 and 1993.

Which was Lamborghini's first new model under Audi, designed by Luc Donckerwolke and launched in 2001?

It was named after a bull whose life was spared by El Lagartijo in 1879.

Which V10 model, built 2003-2013, became Lamborghini's best-seller at the time with 14,022 made?

It was named for one of the five ancestral castes of Spanish fighting bull.

Which organisation received two Gallardos in 2004, later using them to transport organs?

They marked the force's 152nd anniversary and patrolled the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway.

The Aventador is named after a fighting bull that fought in which Spanish city in 1993?

Launched at Geneva in 2011, it replaced the decade-old Murciélago as flagship.

What does 'Huracán', the name of the 2014-2024 V10 model, mean in Spanish?

The bull Huracán, famed for its courage, fought in 1879.

The Urus SUV takes its name from what?

It was the second Lamborghini SUV after the LM002 of 1986-93.

Which was Lamborghini's first SUV, produced from 1986 to 1993?

LM stood for Lamborghini Militaire.

The Urus shares its MLB Evo platform with which other Volkswagen Group SUVs?

The Urus SE, at 312 km/h, is the fastest production SUV in the world.

Which 2023 model, Lamborghini's first plug-in hybrid, succeeded the Aventador?

Its V12 and three electric motors combine for 1,001 hp; the bull Revuelto fought in Barcelona in the 1880s.

Which model, unveiled in August 2024, replaced the Huracán?

It is a mid-engine plug-in hybrid with a twin-turbo V8.

Which Lamborghini was named for the bull that killed the famed matador Manolete in 1947?

Espada means sword and can refer to the bullfighter himself.

Which one-off 2013 car, built for the company's 50th anniversary, was designed for a single occupant?

Only one was ever to be made.

The 2010 Sesto Elemento concept was made almost entirely of what, weighing just 999 kg?

It shared the Gallardo's V10 and could hit 62 mph in 2.5 seconds.

The 2014 Asterion hybrid concept was named after which creature of Greek legend?

A half-man, half-bull hybrid for a half-petrol, half-electric car.

Besides cars, Lamborghini builds large V12 engines for what?

The 8.2-litre marine block makes about 940 hp for World Offshore Series Class 1 boats.

In the mid-1980s Lamborghini put its name on a limited run of about 24 of what?

They used Kawasaki GPz1000RX engines and were built by French firm Boxer Bikes.

Unlike his rival in Maranello, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided early on that his company would not do what?

He saw racing as too expensive, which frustrated engineers who had come from Ferrari.

After retiring in 1974, Ferruccio Lamborghini took up which pursuit on his estate by Lake Trasimeno?

The 740-acre estate La Fiorita lies at Castiglione del Lago in Umbria.

Who was appointed Lamborghini CEO in November 2020, having previously run Bugatti?

He had already led Lamborghini once, from 2005 to 2016.

Who designed the engine for the first Lamborghini cars in 1963?

Dallara and Stanzani developed the chassis while Scaglione styled the bodywork.

What was Lamborghini's very first model, a one-off prototype whose futuristic style flopped?

The project was reworked into the 350 GT, which became the first production car.

To whom did Ferruccio Lamborghini sell a majority stake in the company in 1972?

He sold his remaining interest to René Leimer and fully retired in 1974.

Under the Mimran brothers, which sports car joined the Countach and LM002 in the line-up?

Chrysler discontinued the Jalpa and the LM002 after taking over in 1987.