Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Last Word in Unattainable Luxury


Shown on Thursday: 2008 Lamborghini Reventón

Is it real? Unreal. Within a few hours of its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, Lamborghini said all 20 Reventón it plans to make were sold.

What’s the point? Audi, Lamborghini’s owner, was trying to trump Volkswagen, which makes the seven-figure Bugatti Veyron. The Reventón’s North American debut at the L.A. Auto Show was apparently intended to make cash-flush Tinseltown types rue not having gone toFrankfurt.

What they said: “The Reventón is the most extreme of all, a true automotive superlative,” said Stephan Winkelmann, president and chief executive of Automobili Lamborghini. “Our designers took the technical base of the Murciélago LP640 and compressed and intensified its DNA, its genetic code.”

What they didn’t say: Despite a tube-frame chassis and carbon fiber body, the Reventón still tips the scales at 3,670 pounds (that’s dry weight). Its huge engine must have roughly the same density as an asteroid.

What makes it tick? A reworked, 650-horsepower version of the Murciélago V-12, with a six-speed e-Gear automatic transmission — good for 3.4-second 0-60 times and a top speed above 200 m.p.h.

How much, how soon? $1.4 million. Though Lamborghini has sold all it will make, that won’t stop those who have already bought them from trying to flip them (Case in point: a British dealer offered one recently for $1.6 million.)

How’s it look? Extraterrestrial. Special low-luster opaque greenish-gray exterior paint gives the angular, aeronautically inspired body more than a passing resemblance to a stealth-bomber.

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