The Lamborghini Gallardo has been a smash hit for the company—more than 12,000 have been sold; the next bestseller for the brand is the discontinued Murciélago, at 4099—so it will be key to get its replacement right. We recently spoke with Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, and his comments, as well as information gleaned elsewhere, have given us additional hints at what to expect when the car arrives sometime next year.
First, Winkelmann stated that the car will make “a clear cut” from the Gallardo, especially visually. “We always say that design is not an evolution but a revolution, and this will be the philosophy of the follow-up to the Gallardo.” We’d guess that the car will take on more of the menacing angularity of the Aventador flagship, although don’t expect it to adopt its sibling’s carbon-fiber-intensive construction. (Winkelmann: “What we have done for Aventador is not necessarily the right thing to do for a different car.”) This will help keep pricing where the merely rich—as opposed to the hyper-wealthy—can afford the car.
The next entry-level Lambo will ride on the VW Group’s modular sports-car architecture (a.k.a. MSS), which also will underpin the next Audi R8, as well as future Porsches. Stephan Reil, head of development at Audi’s Quattro performance subsidiary, tells us that the Gallardo replacement and the next R8 will share 15- to 20-percent more parts than do the current cars.
As for powertrain, the current V-10 is likely to be retained (with more power; it should near 600 horses), and will mate to a dual-clutch automatic transmission. As we reported last fall, there will be no traditional manual.
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