Why Lamborghini Won’t Be Making Modern Versions of Its Classic Cars
Lamborghini‘s unveiling of a new Countach in 2021 was met with nostalgia-based delight in many corners, but a bit of concern in others. After all, there is a fine line between honoring one’s past and becoming a prisoner of it. In this vein, Lamborghini said this week it won’t be in the business of continuation cars, or faithful reproductions of classics. Those are a different proposition than the new Countach, which shares a name with the old Countach but not much else.
Automakers like Bentley and Aston Martin build continuation cars based on customer demand and because, for many automakers, history is their biggest asset. But don’t count on it with the Raging Bull; we’re unlikely to see a new (old) Miura, or Diablo, or Murciélago any time soon.
“We are not interested,” Giuliano Cassataro, Polo Storico’s head of service, told The Drive. “For us, there is only one Countach. There were different series of the Countach, but we are not allowed to change anything in the car. It was born in that year, with this color, in this configuration, and with this interior, and it must be like it was. . .Everything that we do will one day be history. We don’t want to modify the past.”
A 1971 Countach built in 2021 from the ground up was not a continuation car, Cassataro said, because its chassis number was re-purposed from a Countach crashed in 1974, and, anyway, that new (old) Countach was a 50th-anniversary one-off for a special customer.
“One of our best customers and collectors started dreaming, he wanted to be part of this project,” Cassataro told The Drive. “We started dreaming with him.”
Lamborghini might even do the same for another of their best customers, too, since exceptions can always be made. But old supercars are old technology, too, which takes a lot of fun out of the driving, as nice as they are to look at.
This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.