The Lamborghini Murciélago has been introduced back in September 2001 as the 6.2 model, in March 2004 the amazing Roadster derivative saw the light during the Geneva Auto Show, only two years later the same Geneva show saw the unveiling of the impressive LP640 model, a masterpiece with 640 Bhp. People didn't have to wait too long to have the open top version of this new flagship, in December 2006 the LP640 Roadster became available. These days the Murciélago is still selling steadily as the only V12 available from Automobile Lamborghini SpA, but they are already thinking about a successor naturally.
Being part of the Audi AG has it's advantages, lately a black LP640 has been seen around test tracks in Germany with some strange additions on it, the wheels are covered with special caps to obtain data valuable in a testing environment, but the biggest give-away on this black Bull are the wide front wheel arches ... it is obvious the track has been widened at the front, which could mean there is a different chassis underneath the well known body.
Another strange detail, the license plates on this test bed when it was seen near the Nurnburgring were registered to Quattro GmbH, a very well known subsidiary of Audi AG that gave us the impressive Audi R8, apparently they are now focusing their attention on improving the Raging Bull even further. So what are they doing with this black Murciélago look alike ?
Naturally no details are officially available, and judging by how well Automobile Lamborghini SpA kept both the Reventón and the Estoque a secret until days before the public unveiling, I doubt very much we'll be seeing anything 'in writing' about this flagship replacement. Naturally the rumors have been going around the Internet for a while now, and one thing they all have in common is the name : the new crown jewel from Sant'Agata could be called 'JOTA', a name used in the past on the one of a kind Miura race car built by Bob Wallace and again on the special edition of the Diablo SE 30 model, when a Jota kit was available to pump even more power out of the V12 engine.
Other than that is is obvious the new Lamborghini will feature a Carbon Fiber tub instead of the current steel space frame, however the front and rear sub frames will probably still be using steel on the new car, the Jota (if that will be it's name) will also be larger and used considerably bigger tires, today the Murciélago still rides on 18-inch ones, but looking at the rare spy photo's it is obvious the wheels are bigger on this test car.
Rumors are the V12 as we know it, and that can be linked back to the very first 350GTV engine from the early Sixties will be abandoned and replaced by an all-new unit, still V12 but now with 'only' 6-liter displacement but pumping out a healthy 700 Bhp or more by using completely new electronics and a new production system for this new Super Bull.
As always we'll have to be patient to see what Sant'Agata has in store for us, but voices 'in the know' talk about an unveiling as early as the 2010 Geneva Auto Show, with the successful Roadster evolution available later the same year ... could be Paris, can't wait to see this.
If you don't have the patience to wait another two years, you could get lucky in a few months already, the long awaited SuperVeloce edition of the Murciélago LP640 is still being considered, and the latest 'Intel' mentions that it could very well be among us in early 2009, probably at the Geneva Auto Show ... Automobile Lamborghini SpA has vouched it would be showing one new model every year so hopes are high for 2009, the Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder is still eagerly awaited, but other specials based on the V10 model could be shown too, however a Superlative version is very unlikely.
In a continuation of Lamborghini's tradition of giving its cars names from the world of bullfighting, the Murciélago was named for a fighting bull that survived 28 sword strokes in an 1879 fight against Rafael "El Lagartijo" Molina Sanchez, at the Coso de los califas bullring in Córdoba, Spain. Murciélago fought with such passion and spirit that the matador chose to spare its life, a rare honor. The bull, which came from Joaquin del Val di Navarra's farm, was later presented as a gift to Don Antonio Miura, a noted local breeder; thus began the famed Miura line of fighting bulls, which provided the name for one of Lamborghini's first great cars.Murciélago is the Spanish name for the bat. The word is pronounced [murθiˈelaɣo], with a voiceless dental fricative [θ] (as in English thing), in the Castilian Spanish spoken in most of Spain. However, the Italian automaker often uses the Southern Spain and Latin American Spanish pronunciation, [mursiˈelaɣo], with an [s] sound.
Lamborghini Murcielago is powered by 6.5L V12 gasoline engine, which pumps out a maximum power of 640 hp @ 8000 rpm and torque of 660 Nm @ 6000 rpm. It accelerates from 0-60 mph within just 3.4 seconds and reaches a top speed of 224 mph. The car features an all-wheel drive system and 6-speed manual transmission, with overdrive that delivers seamless gear shifts.
The 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago ranks 1 out of 7 Exotic Sports Cars. This ranking is based on analysis of 8 published reviews and test drives of the Lamborghini Murcielago, and analysis of reliability and safety data.
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