LAMBORGHINI’S VENERABLE GALLARDO IS REPLACED BY THE HURACÁN—A SUPERCAR THAT AIMS TO COMBINE DAILY DRIVER PRACTICALITY WITH FORMULA ONE PERFORMANCE

Lamborghini’s first major release after being purchased by the Volkswagen Group in 2003 was the Gallardo, and from its debut at the Geneva Auto Show was praised for a combination of hair-on-fire aggressive wedge design yet relative drivability, and quickly became the company’s best-selling car (an average of 2,000 sold per year and a total production run of just over 14,000). It was then, a significant leap of faith to discontinue production of the Gallardo in 2014 in favor of an almost entirely new model, one that shares a significant amount of structural and technological guts with Audi’s R8.

Dubbed the Huracán (Spanish for “hurricane” and also the handle of the Mayan god of wind, though, like all Lamborghinis, the name is actually meant to pay tribute to a particular fighting bull, this one Spanish), Lambo’s new “entry level” supercar is powered by a 40-valve V10, that unleashes no less than 610 hp to all four of the driving wheels, harnessed by a seven-speed automatic transmission. This means that one goes from a complete stop to fastest car on the Staten Island Expressway in under three seconds, with a top speed of 202 miles per hour.

These statistics, however impressive, wouldn’t necessarily mark the $240,000 base model Huracán as something more worthy of notice than any Lamborghini, but from the slightly softer angles of its body contours to a cockpit as supple as it is purposeful (Nappa leather….ahhhh), what seems apparent is that this was intended to introduce one of the world’s most extreme makers to a wider audience (it is, after all, better than ten grand cheaper than the Ferrari 488 and McLaren 650S, and seems positively thrifty compared to the $1 million-plus the Koenigsegg One fetches). One of the most apparent and immediately satisfying ways of making the new model versatile is through an electronically adjustable suspension—one that can make for relatively sedate urban transport one minute, Formula One racer the next.

Buyers have an additional reason to get off the web and in-person shop for these wonders, too, specifically at Manhattan Motorcars’ new facility at 711 11th Avenue—a glittering and expanded presence for the 20-year-old luxury new and pre owned dealer, whose list of brands now includes Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Lotus, Bugatti, and Koenigsegg.

Manhattan Motorcars
866.325.1538 / manhattanmotorcars.com