Lamborghini officially ceases production of the Gallardo gearing up for its upcoming replacement
Lamborghini have officially pulled the plug on it’s largest ever selling model, the Gallardo today at their factory in Italy. After 10 years and 14,022 units produced, the last ever ‘best-selling Lamborghini ever’ has rolled off the line at the Sant’Agata Bolognese assembly line. Unveiled at the 2003 Geneva Motor show, the Gallardo renewed Lamborghini’s flame as the Italian sport car manufacturer cranked up it’s manufacturing capabilities from 250 a year to well over 2500 a year.
Out of the 30000 Lamborghini’s that have ever been made since the company’s inception in 1963 50 years ago, almost half of the cars made have been a Gallardo in various forms. The Gallardo was available in a variety of special editions, including an exclusive run of 6 ‘India Edition’ cars that featured a tri-color flag stripe and other similar details. The Gallardo also helped Lamborghini spawn the ‘Super Trofeo’ race series which in turn spawned the most extreme special edition Gallardos ever, the ‘Super Trofeo Stradale’ and the recent ‘Squadra Corse’. Our favorite would have to be the Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni Edition, named after Lamborghini’s now retired test driver.
In India too, the Gallardo has been the bread and butter (or spaghetti and meatballs) for Lamborghini having sold close to 85 cars since the Gallardo was first introduced in 2003. Famous owners have included the likes of Anil Ambani, Gautam Singhania and in recent times, John Abraham with a 2013 black LP550-2.
The Gallardo originally designed by the styling firm Italdesign Giugiaro in the form of the Lamborghini Cala was intended to launch in the early 90s as the baby Diablo. However plans were shelved as Lamborghini changed owners until Audi procured Lamborghini in 1998 and decided to jumpstart the project once again. The Gallardo was powered originally by 5.0 Litre V10 engine that produced 507PS and later 527PS. The second and third generation Gallardos came with a 5.2 Litre V10 engines producing 568PS in standard from and 578PS in the lighter ‘Superleggera’(Superlight) models.
The new Gallardo replacement is scheduled to be unveiled in the Geneva Motor Show next year and is most likely to be called the Lamborghini Cabrera. The Cabrera is set to ditch the naturally aspirated 5.2 Litre V10 engine for a more conservative twin-turbo V8 that is set to produce at least 620PS. The Last ever Lamborghini Gallardo produced on the 25th of November 2013 is a Rosso Mars (Red) Lamborghini Gallardi LP570-4 Performante, a higher powered and lighter version of the Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder, which is slated to go into the hands of a private collector.
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