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Article was written on 7/02.

NEWS FROM ITALY BY GIANCARLO PERINI
LAMBORGHINI P140 UPDATE
CONSTRUCTION WORK ON THE BABY MURCIELAGO START IN SANT'AGATA BOLOGNESE.

Construction works are under way at Lamborghini's factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese for the assembly line that, comes September, will assemble what one might consider the young sister of the Lamborghini Murcielago.
Under the roof of the main building, the assembly line of the Murcielago has been concentrated on one side of the long building and now temporary walls are separating that area from the 2500 sq.m. construction site where the Baby Murcy assembly line is to be built.
Production of the extremely successful Murcielago in the meantime shall keep running at some 400 cars per year. Easily 30% more than the production volume reached the past year.
Construction works will not stop through the summer holidays. Actually they will go ahead at full speed so that by the end of October at the latest - test assembling of the first Baby Murcy can start. Current plans call for the first cars for the press and public test drive should come off the line early in January.
Launch of the yet unnamed L 140 is now planned for the Geneva Motor Show next March, even though the company conservatively says it will happen in the first half of next year. Do not be upset if final decisions push the date of a publish launch to the Frankfurt Motor Show next September.
The assembling line being installed will mark a new era in the history of Lamborghini. Never before a production run of some 1300 units per year had been planned at Lamborghini and never before has the GT specialist engineered a sport car making such an intensive use of aluminium for its bearing structure.
In a telephone interview, Automobili Lamborghini president Giuseppe Greco said that plans call for a production of 6 unites per day, for nominal volume of 1320 units per year. The 1300 production volume recently spoken of by Lamborghini is a bit conservative with respect to original plans announced a couple of year ago, when 1500 was the figure.
If demand of the Baby Murcy, that will be challenging the Ferrari 360 Modena and the Porsche 911 GT2 in the Euro 150 to 160 thousand price class, is stronger than expected it will not be too difficult to increase production output. Increasing production to 8 units per day (1760 per year) is just a matter of production planning and additional supplies and manpower. The installed capacity is reportedly twice as much, after upgrading of the production tools.
At Sant'Agata the Lamborghini L 140 will be assembled with components and parts coming from contractors and suppliers scattered around Europe. The bodyworks will actually come from Germany. There they will be built at Audi's Aluminium Center in Neckarsulm, Germany with the German coachbuilder Krupp-Drauz in charge of providing the aluminium skin to the put upon the spaceframe structure.
However, the powertrain, consisting of the 5.0 litre V 10 engine and the mechanical six-speed with all-time-all-wheel-drive transmission, the "heart" of the Baby Murcy will be made in Sant'Agata with just the raw engine blocks supplied by Audi foundry in Gjor, Hungary.
Mr. Giuseppe Greco, president of Automobili Lamborghini said the new L 140 will be at least 10% better in performance than its competitors, weather he was referring just the power output of the engine (the next generation Modena is reportedly credited of 430 to 440 HP) or he was referring to the power-to-weight ratio (some 500 HP for 1400 kg) or to other performance data is not clear.
Greco has already test-driven the car and he said its top speed is well into the 300 kph/, is delicious to drive and its braking power is simply outstanding. The cabin is as roomy as that of the Murcielago and offers a little bench behind the two seats. Access though conventionally opening doors is simpler. Aerodynamics is also very good with just a tiny spoiler on the tail coming up at speed to add down force on the rear axle. The renderings of the car published so far by some magazines are purely the work of imagination and none of them actually reflect the design of the new Lamborghini and the black prototypes seen so far do not help guessing how the car really looks like.
The price of the L 140 will be attractive but anything between 10 and 15% superior to that of its more direct competitor, said Mr. Greco.
Greco said marketing strategy and the need of setting the Murcielago apart have suggested not going for lifting door and this is why the Baby Murcy comes with conventional door.
In the meantime the final touches are being put into the design of the car under the direction of Walter de Silva, who has recently been promoted to the Audi Group and is in charge of the "sports cars" of the Group.
Also being fine-tuned is the communication strategy for the credit of the design. Officially the Baby Murcy is the outcome of a co-operative effort of Lamborghini's designer Luc Donkerwolke and Italdesign Giugiaro under the direction of Audi design. Other, well-informed, sources confirm that the design is primarily the work of Italdesign Giugiaro (it is not clear yet whether Giorgetto of Fabrizio, even though a description of the car suggests its more the work of Fabrizio). Other reliable sources are prepared to swear that Luc Donkerwolke has designed the new V 10 sports car. Apparently marketing strategy will eventually decide which name sounds better and will sell more. It Giugiaro's name will go down as a plus we shall find the his name badge of the car, just as it was the case with the Diablo signed off by Marcello Gandini, despite modifications made by Chrysler design centre.

Giancarlo Perini
July 24, 2002