The Lamborghini Gallardo era has come to an end in late November 2013 when the final production unit was completed at the factory in Sant’Agata … a bright red LP570-4 Performante marked number 14,022 after almost a decade of V10 Raging Bulls, this specific car will be delivered to a private collector soon while the production line will be prepared to start building the successor that will be unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show in 2014.
The original Gallardo was unveiled in 2003 at the Geneva Auto Salon, that year Automobili Lamborghini SpA was celebrating their 40th Anniversary by the way (with a special Murciélago model at that time) … in November 2005 production figures for the new V10 Lamborghini reached a first milestone at 3,000 units while little over a year later, in January 2007 the 5,000th Gallardo left the line in Sant’Agata … and this continued over a period of almost 11 years to reach a final production number of 14,022 units making this the most successful Lamborghini ever … considering all models built since 1963 at Sant’Agata the Gallardo series accounts for almost half of the entire production over the last 50 years.
Even today the Gallardo still holds the title ‘best of class’ with record lap times, naturally the original 5.0 Liter V10 model has been going through some updates and special editions over the years, a small list:
- 2003Â Gallardo 5.0
- 2004Â Gallardo Polizia
- 2005Â Gallardo SE
- 2005Â Gallardo Spyder
- 2006Â Gallardo Nera
- 2006Â Gallardo GT3-R by Reiter Engineering
- 2007Â Gallardo Superleggera
- 2008Â Gallardo LP560-4
- 2008Â Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder
- 2009Â Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni edition
- 2009Â Gallardo Blancpain Super Trofeo
- 2010Â Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
- 2010Â Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante
- 2011Â Gallardo LP570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale
- 2011Â Gallardo LP550-2 Spyder
- 2012Â Nuova Gallardo LP560-4
- 2012Â New Gallardo LP570-4 Super Trofeo
- 2013Â Gallardo LP570-4 Squadra Corse
Naturally this list is only a small part of the entire series of special editions, limited editions and other variants of the Gallardo model which holds 32 variants in total, but I think this overview illustrates how the V10 model kept up with the evolution over the last ten years.
Now the time has come for a totally new Lamborghini to take over the reign of the V10 Gallardo, a model that will have the daunting task to replace the most successful Lamborghini ever in a market that has changed a lot over the last five decades since Automobili Lamborghini SpA was founded … but I’m sure the car we’ll be seeing in Geneva in a few months will be yet another masterpiece ‘made in Sant’Agata’.
