The new $2.6 million Lamborghini Countach is a hybrid
The original Lamborghini Countach, unveiled as a concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971, made the Italian automaker world famous. The new Countach, unveiled at an event during Monterey Car Week in California Friday, celebrates the 50th anniversary of that debut.In many regards, the new Countach is a direct descendent of the original. It has a V12 engine, directly behind the two seats. And, like every Lamborghini sports car since the Countach, it’s shaped like a low-profile wedge. The Countach was one of the few Lamborghini models not named after a fighting bull. “Countach!” is actually a mild curse word in the Piedmontese dialect spoken decades ago in region of Italy where the car was first designed. As the designer Marcello Gandini told CNN Business in a 2019 interview, when craftsmen were building a full-size mock-up of the car, one particularly large and gruff man kept cursing in astonishment at what he was helping to create. “Countach!” he would say over and over. The name stuck.The Lamborghini, with its aggressive design, scissor doors and powerful engine mounted behind two seats, became the model for future supercars from Lamborghini and other manufacturers as well. Only 112 of these new Lamborghini Countaches are being built and, according to Lamborghini, all of them have already seen sold.