Detroit '06: Miura rises again

LAMBORGHINI is attempting to stir car lovers’ souls with its Miura Concept.

To be unveiled at next week’s Detroit motor show, the Audi-controlled company is presenting the car in one of its signature green hues.

Lamborghini says the latest Miura – meaning a particularly fierce breed of Spanish bull – is “… a retro-inspired look” as well as “a modern interpretation” of the 1966 original.

However the company insists that it is “strictly a concept with no firm date set for its production launch”.

If it does get the green light expect the Miura to appear sometime in 2007/2008, brandishing all-wheel drive and built on the recently announced Audi R8 platform – a development of the Lamborghini Gallardo.

The work of Audi’s head of design, Walter de’ Silva, the Miura Concept (left) is a faithful reproduction that has been redesigned in every aspect.

Lamborghini says that Mr de’ Silva “… retained the extraordinary purity of line characteristic of the original” but refined the contours and eliminated “any superfluous detail in order to enhance the clean, simple lines and perfectly-balanced proportions of the original….” Much of the detailing – such as the interior, alloy wheel design and lights – has been updated but with an eye to the flavour of the first Miura.

The production original is 40 years old this year, prompting Mr de’ Silva to mark the occasion with the concept.

“Over the last two years I have often dreamt of redesigning the Miura.

“Now, thanks to my new position at the head of Lamborghini design and the enthusiastic support of the Lamborghini CEO… I have been able to turn that dream into a reality,” he says.

Renowned designer Marcello Gandini penned the original Miura when he was working under the watch of Italian design master Nuccio Bertone.

Arguably the most beautiful car of the 1960s, it featured a transversely mounted 3929cc quad-cam V12 engine mated to a five-speed manual gearbox and was capable of exceeding 270km/h, also making it the world’s first mid-engine supercar.

The Miura was displayed as a concept at the Turin motor show in November 1965 before debuting in production form at the 1966 Geneva show the following March, with company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini and Bertone at hand.

It remained in production, morphing from the P400 to the P400S and finally the P400SV, until 1972.