The luxury Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
The Lamborghini Gallardo (/ɡalˈlaɾdo/) is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini’s most-produced model to date, with 5,000 built in the first three years of production. It is less expensive than Lamborghini’s larger, more powerful Murciélago.
The car is named after a famous breed of fighting bull. The Spanish word gallardo (/ɡaˈʎaɾðo/) translates into “gallant,” and from Italian into “striking”.
The Gallardo was designed as a competitor to the Ferrari 360, and now competes with its replacement, the Ferrari F430. The Gallardo has a rear-biased all-wheel drive system which differentiates it from its rear-wheel drive competitors. Lamborghini’s parent company Audi is renowned for its quattro 4WD system, however Lamborghini uses a system of its own.
Unlike the Countach, Diablo, and Murciélago models, the Gallardo does not have scissor doors.
The Gallardo was designed by Luc Donckerwolke, who won the 2003 Red Dot Award for the design of both the 2004 Gallardo and 2002 Murciélago.
At current U.S. prices, a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo coupe costs USD $186,250 - $222,800, while a 2008
The Gallardo offers two choices of transmissions, a conventional (H-Box) six-speed manual transmission, and an advanced six-speed electro-hydraulically controlled ’semi-automatic single-clutch sequential manual’, which Lamborghini abbreviates to “E-gear”. The “E-gear” allows the driver to make shifts much faster than a manual transmission would. The driver shifts up and down via paddles behind the steering wheel, and does not need to manually actuate the clutch.
The Audi R8 sports car, launched in early 2007, is based on the Gallardo platform, and uses a 4.2 litre V8 in place of the Gallardo’s V10 to avoid competing directly with the Gallardo.
For the 2008 model year, an onboard computer, iPod connectivity with USB, heated mirrors, Q-citura stitching that originally could only be found on the Nera model, and a beige soft-top on the Spyder, were added to the Gallardo.
Superleggera
A special version of the Gallardo, dubbed the Superleggera, was launched at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show supposedly in preparation for the next Ferrari 430 Scuderia. The Superleggera is lighter than the base Gallardo by around 70 kg (154 lb) - down to approximately 1,360 kg (3,000 lb) - thanks to the use of carbon fibre panels for the rear diffuser, undertray, the rearview-mirror housings, the interior door panels, the central tunnel, and the engine cover. Even the wheel nuts are made of titanium instead of steel to save even more unsprung weight at each corner of the car. According to the original Press Release issued by the factory the superleggera was available in four colors only : Midas Yellow, Borealis Orange, Telesto Gray and Noctis Black, however at least one white Superleggera has been built.
The intake, exhaust and ECU have been upgraded to release an extra 10 hp (7.5 kW) for a total of 530 hp (395 kW). The lightening and extra power result in a 0-100 km/h time of 3.8 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the base Gallardo. The 6-speed e-gear transmission, usually a US$ 10,000 option, now comes as a standard. The full price for a Superleggera with everything on it runs for over $200,000. Lamborghini began offering the Gallardo Superleggera in June 2007. In March 2008, Lamborghini announced that they had ceased production of the Gallardo Superleggera. In August 20, 2008 was published information about lawsuit filed by Swiss-based Touring Superleggera Markenverwaltungsgesellschaft AG against several companies including Lamborghini on trademark infringements.[7] The company owns the trademarks of the Carrozzeria Touring.
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