Opinion / The Lamborghini Countach 2021: the supercar is reborn 50 years after the 1970s original, delivering ‘extreme’ at its best
- Marcello Gandini of Bertone designed the Miura and the original Countach, which debuted in 1971 at the Geneva International Motor Show – not even the Aventador is more radical
- It accelerates slower than the Tesla Model S Plaid, but its futuristic aesthetic led CEO Stephan Winkelmann (also Bugatti’s CEO) to say it’s ‘not retrospective’
This article is part of Style’s Luxury Column
Lamborghini has always been a brand all about the extreme. And that makes it one of the most luxurious brands in the world. One of the most iconic cars of all time was the Lamborghini Miura, launched in 1966. For many, it is still one of the most spectacular sports cars ever made.
When the time came to develop a successor, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s brief was to develop a car that could boast the best possible performance. And not with just any form: it should be bold, uncompromising, an aesthetic and visual statement with advanced aerodynamics. The result was a head turner: the Countach, which made its public debut fifty years ago in 1971 at the Geneva International Motor Show and launched in 1974.
The design was so radical that I remember standing in front of the car as a child and wondering how anyone could even fit into one. The car was unlike anything ever produced: futuristic, wild, sexy and testosterone-fuelled.
It was the second masterpiece of Marcello Gandini of Bertone, who had also been responsible for the design of the Miura. He had toyed with the wedge-shaped design in a couple of prototypes and show cars, but the Countach was the first to introduce the boundary-breaking design to the automotive world.
Even the name bucked the usual trend. Symbolising astonishment in the local Piedmontese dialect, it was the only Lamborghini not named after an aspect of the world of bullfighting.
