During 1999, Lamborghini would continue to develop a successor for the famous LM002 off-roader, and the targa styled Jalpa. The Cala prototype would be completely redesigned and altered before entering production toward the end of 1999.
The Jalpa successor would probably be powered by an Audi V-8 engine, according to an interview with Ferdinand Piech, Audi would not interfere with the design of this new Lamborghini, but development of a totally new V-8 or even a V-10 engine would take too long to accomplish, and Audi was happily supplying their engine, a 4.2 Liter power plant currently used in their S8 flagship cruiser.
Another rumor stated that an Espada follow-up was being designed inside the top-secret design centers in Italy, this drawing was the first evidence of this. The Project L149, which was already called the Nouva Espada 2000 should be reaching the prototype stadium during 1999, and if everything goes as planned this new 2+2 Lamborghini should be on sale towards the year 2001. However, since Mr Piech has frozen the L147 Canto project, the successor to the Diablo would get all the attention at that time, so any other project would be frozen temporarily.
The chassis for the new Espada could be based on the Bugatti EB 112, a project heavily developed by ItalDesign but halted because Bugatti could not afford it anymore, naturally the engine would become the famous V-12, enlarged to a cool 6 Litres. Nevertheless, a ‘cheaper’ type could be using the V-10 engine from the Cala prototype or even the Lamborghini developed Viper V-10 block.
If anyone knows anything more about this car or any other projects please let me know.