The Lamborghini Countach, the poster car of the seventies and eighties, is back. Unveiled during the prestigious main event at Monterey’s Car Week at Pebble Beach this week, the supercar returns to honor the 50th anniversary of the original release.
The new Countach — Lamborghini refers to the series as "the patriarch of modern super sports car design” — is called the LPI 800-4 and is part of the "Few Off" program for unique cars. LPI is an acronym for Longitudinale Posteriore Ibrido, or Longitudinal Posterior Hybrid; 800 is a reference to the rounding down of the engine’s 814cv maximum combined power; and 4 to its permanent four-wheel drive transmission.
That's the boring stuff out the way, so how does it shift? As you'd expect, this thing is ridiculous. It features a V12 engine with a 48V electric motor that allows it to retain its original throaty engine growl. The engine generates 780 horsepower with its electric motor pumping our 34 horsepower through its permanent four-wheel drive transmission. This means it can reach zero to 62 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds and reaches a top speed of 220 mph.
Design-wise, the new Countach takes cues from its predecessors, combining 1970s retro angles and lines with 21st-century aerodynamics. Differentiating from the original, there's a rounder nose and a rear that feels a lot less sharp. Simply put, it looks stunning. Inside, it's just as advanced, with the car’s controls managed through an 8.4-inch touchscreen.
“Whenever I look at it, the Countach gives me goosebumps and serves as the perfect reminder to design every future Lamborghini in a visionary and futuristic way," says head of Lamborghini Centro Stile, Mitja Borkert. "The first Countach shaped the Lamborghini design DNA like no other car; the new Countach translates that unconventional and edgy character into the future."
Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann was equally effusive in a statement. He said: “The Countach LPI 800-4 is a visionary car of the moment, just as its forerunner was. [The car] pays homage to this Lamborghini legacy but it is not retrospective: it imagines how the iconic Countach of the 70s and 80s might have evolved into an elite super sports model of this decade.”
In 1971, the Countach, drawn by Marcello Gandini, one of the 20th century's greatest car designers, was presented to the public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show. No series production was planned, but the whip, which still holds up in terms of how design today, was greeted with such enthusiasm among diehard car fans that company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini had a ready-to-drive prototype built. By 1974, it had reached production and would go on to become an icon of its time.
As you might expect from the "Few Off" series, the new Countach is extremely limited. Only 112 units of the Countach LPI 800-4 will be made available, with prices rumored to be no less than $2 million.
Following its release, it seems as if all of the 112 units of the coveted supercar are already sold out. You snooze, you lose.
