Frankfurt show: Lambo's mystery ‘super sports’ car

LAMBORGHINI has confirmed it will display a new “super sports car” at next month’s Frankfurt motor show, but the Italian supercar manufacturer is keeping specific details close to its chest.

No other information has come out of the Audi-owned company’s Sant’Agata headquarters, although overseas reports indicate the mystery model will be a hardcore, race-inspired Gallardo.

UK publication Autocar suggests the car will be a road-going version of the Gallardo used in the one-make Super Trofeo race series, which is based on the ballistic LP570-4 variant.

Cryptic media invites sent out by the Italian car-maker last week hinted the show car would be painted red, before the company’s factory Super Trofeo entrant emerged in special red livery at the recent Spa-Francorchamps leg of the series.

If this speculation proves true, it will be the latest in a long line of special-edition variants of the Gallardo, notably the Super Trofeo-inspired Blancpain Edition from last year, which was based on the ultra-lightweight Superleggera LP570-4 version of Lamborghini’s entry-level model.

Left: Lamborghini's cryptic invite to Frankfurt.

Both the Blancpain Edition and its Superleggera donor-car weighed in at just 1340kg, lighter than both the 1410kg all-wheel drive Gallardo LP560-4 and the rear-drive LP55-2.

Both cars were powered by a 419kW 5.2-litre V10 (down from 425kW in the race-going Super Trofeo cars). The sprint to 100km/h was dispatched in a claimed 3.4 seconds and top speed was 325km/h.

The House of the Raging Bull has not announced when the Gallardo’s successor – tipped by many to be called Cabrera, which roughly translates to ‘goat herder’ in the Catalan dialect – will make its global debut, but any Gallardo special-edition could be a swansong for the eight-year old model.

Other possibilities for the mystery Frankfurt reveal include a Spyder version of Lamborghini’s recently released Aventador flagship or, as an outside chance, a production version of last year’s spectacular Sesto Elemento concept.