The Gallardo became the single most successful model ever in the history of Automobili Lamborghini SpA … when production was finally halted in 2013 a total of 14,022 of these V10 Bulls would have left Sant’Agata, so when they started thinking about a successor it quickly became obvious it wouldn’t be easy to replace such a car … being a Lamborghini it would have to be different from anything else on the market and still not completely over the top that it would keep people from buying it … the Gallardo successor would take several years of design and development before it would be unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show.
I’m sure the team at the Centro Stile in Sant’Agata went to work on a new V10 Lamborghini many years ago, however the first information about the Gallardo successor got published in May 2012 when rumor had it we would still be seeing a V10 engine, no hybrid nor turbo charging with a power output of +600hp, at that time the manual gearbox was already being questioned and the name Cabrera was mentioned.
And things became quite again for many months … a lot of speculation went round, Lamborghini would show the new V10 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show … which didn’t happen … then it would be the 2013 Geneva Auto Show … again wishful thinking … suddenly a heavily camouflaged mule was captured and published online in June 2013, however this car didn’t unveil any actual design cues for the new Lamborghini.
However in early September 2013 another test mule was caught during night testing, and this one did show some styling under the black tape … people started thinking they would see the Gallardo successor at the IAA in Frankfurt … but in the end Lamborghini showed the Squadra Corse, no successor yet.
Not much about the actual design could be recognized at that stage, a lot of black tape and covers did and excellent job at hiding the Lamborghini underneath … it did show dual exhaust pipes left and right at the rear and thin taillights, possibly LED and a nice engine cover with vents on either side … this early test mule also showed very special wheels … which would turn out the be the standard units in the end.
Late September 2013 showed a still heavily camouflaged Lamborghini during performance testing on the famous Nürnburgring in Germany, and while the first night sighting showed a glimpse of green under the black ‘dress’ these new photos show Lamborghini took things even more serious now … as if the black tape and panels weren’t enough they applied a black and white cameo wrap all over the car underneath to hide the lines even more.
Now even the rear section is completely hiding the actual design so you can’t recognize anything anymore … or so they think, closer inspection of the photos show the new V10 Lamborghini could be using two Y-shaped headlights like the Estoque concept did, while the side shots clearly show the roof line is very close to the Gallardo one while the exterior rear view mirrors look almost identical … still things could change dramatically before the official unveil.
In November 2013 a rather unexpected render by WildSpeed was published online … showing what was called a Lamborghini Cabrera and it looked almost real … the proportions looked right, the styling looked like what could be hiding under the earlier black tape and panels … it was almost too good to be true.
A few days later the Dutch car magazine AutoWEEK also published new renders of a Lamborghini Cabrera … they even mentioned special VIP events, open on invitation only would be held as early as January 2014 with the actual, official public unveil at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show … all of which turned out to be true naturally.
After that things got into overdrive … the same week as the above mentioned renders got published a cameo covered test mule got snapped while being parked near a gas station, and these photos showed a lot of details on the new Lamborghini V10 model … perhaps even too much as it didn’t take long to create some really nice renders based on these new photos, renowned QuattroRuote in Italy even published an article with images they stated being the real deal.
In fact late November was also the start of the Hexagon Project marketing teasers by Automobili Lamborghini, a series of movies that would lead to the unveil of the Gallardo Successor at the factory in Sant’Agata … things finally started to take shape for the new V10 model … and by now the name Cabrera was also denied … instead the internal production number LB724 was mentioned and the name Huracan got the spotlight.
During December 2013 road testing of the new Lamborghini Huracan continued … this time in ice cold conditions and on snowy roads, at least two different cars were captured during testing, one of which showed some serious additional lights on the front hood. In fact during these tests Lamborghini performed a nifty trick to hide the actual design of the wheels used … they added silver tape between the spokes … it didn’t take long to render the original look in PhotoShop however.
In late December 2013 the first ‘leaked’ press photos (or renders) were published, I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but still I created a few different shades based on those renders, I even put together what might become a Huracan LP650-4 Superleggera evolution later on.
On December 20. 2013 an official press release from Automobili Lamborghini SpA was published complete with ‘renders’ of the new car … now we all knew it would be called Huracan LP 610-4 and how it looked … in general, as it turned out the press release didn’t give all the details yet and the design of the car wasn’t completely unveiled with these initial renders from the factory.
That same day the final episode of the Hexagon Project was published online showing the new Lamborghini Huracan at the factory … being taken on a joy ride by a couple of lucky guys that in fact broke into the factory during a museum visit earlier that day … a nicely put together story line naturally.
With most of the information and styling for the 2014 Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 now out in the open a lot of people started thinking about the next step in the development … which would obviously be an LP610-4 Spyder and the LP650-4 Superleggera … both of them I rendered for you too naturally.
In January 2014 Lamborghini launched their official online configurator for the new Huracan so people could start playing around and put together a virtual car to their likings … safe to say a lot of fans and owners lost many hours online in the next few days and weeks … especially when the VIP events were being held all over the world showing the new V10 model to customers and long time Lamborghini owners … in one month time Lamborghini managed to secure 700 orders for the new car … all while the general public didn’t even see the car yet.
Days before the 2014 Geneva Auto Show the bigger names in automotive magazines were invited to the factory in Sant’Agata for a briefing and a visit to the production line … one that showed a lot of Huracan being prepared … mostly in white by the way, but it did give a sneak preview behind the scenes of what we could expect a week later in Switzerland.
As usual there was a VIP Preview event the night before the press days in Geneva where Automobili Lamborghini SpA showed no less then three Huracan, a white one, a nice dark grey one and a very special Giallo Aton finished V10 rolling on glossy black wheels … very impressive.
On March 4. 2014 the Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 was finally shown to the public in Geneva, the ground floor was crowded with a Grigio Lynx, a Bianco Icarus and a Giallo Aton finished Huracan while the VIP section upstairs showed a stunning Rosso Mars V10 model … after the press days, when the general public could visit the Geneva Auto Show the Giallo Aton unit was replaced by a Verde Mantis Huracan … could be because the glossy black wheels on the yellow car aren’t available yet I’ve heard.
When the doors in Geneva opened a statement about the 2013 fiscal year for Automobili Lamborghini SpA got published … despite the Gallardo being end of life and everybody knowing about the successor being unveiled in 2014 they still managed to reach a record turnover … more than 1,000 Aventador were sold in 2013, and by early March 2014 over 1,000 firm orders for the new Huracan were booked … things are looking very bright for this new V10 model, I’m sure it will be able to follow in the footsteps of the extremely successful Gallardo.
