One month ago, Edmunds.com named the Lamborghini Veneno, a car Lambo touted as one of its greatest achievements, the ugliest car of all time. We diagnosed it as a perfectly played troll, a move that garnered what we’re sure was an insane amount of attention and traffic. In an Internet world now controlled by clicks, it might have been a genius move. And although there are surely others that were disgusted by the outrageous creation, there is no person in his or her right mind could possibly think that the PT Cruiser is significantly more attractive, as the list suggested, than the Veneno.
I, for one, think that the Veneno is brilliant (even after calling it a “cyborg insect version of Emperor Zurg from Toy Story”), and loved every bit of the exciting shock that I was sent into after seeing it for the first time.
I felt like my brain was rushed with all those endorphins that you get from dark chocolate (or whiskey).
Tonight, Lamborghini, once again, nearly sent my laptop flying across the living room, thanks to the release of another new concept. In a private event in Italy, the company debuted the Egoista (which translates to “selfish” in Italian), a one-seat hypercar that is one of the most radical vehicles I’ve ever laid eyes on, and surely one that will draw even more criticism than the Veneno.
I don’t even know what to think of it, to be honest. At first glance, I wasn’t feeling the look, but when I heard the prospect of a car that has a cockpit that comes out of the car and functions on its own, I felt like my brain was rushed with all those endorphins that you get from dark chocolate (or whiskey), and suddenly, I had a big smile on my face. More than anything, though, I had to take a step back to think about the magnitude of what Lamborghini is doing.
At this current point on the historical automotive timeline, almost all focus is on efficiency. Seemingly everything comes back to the question of how many miles can you get per gallon. Electric car excitement continues to grow, and compact crossovers are the hottest thing since Hansel. Europe just announced that cars must average 106 mpg by 2025, for Christ’s sake.
Even the other two monster supercar releases that debuted next to the Veneno in Geneva, the McLaren P1 and the Ferrari LaFerrari (kill me), were hybrids. But any attention and hype McLaren and Ferrari created with their incredible supercar hybrids, was overshadowed by the Veneno and views like this:
Look at it! What. IS. That? It’s a car, but it sure as hell doesn’t look like a car. We’d love to have a count of how many people spoke the words, “What the F?” at first viewing that car. And that’s exactly why Lamborghini is so crucial right now. They really just don’t care about what other companies are keying in on. The Veneno has a 6.5L V12 and the Egoista is rumored to have a 5.2L V10. All gas. All power.
Take the Tesla Model S as another example. It destroys any other electric car efforts, and Consumer Reportsrecently named it the best car to ever hit the test track. But guess what? There’s pretty much zero surprise element when you look at it. The Tesla Model S is an attractive car. It’s a sleek and beautifully designed car. But that’s it. The biggest “wow” moment comes from its gigantic screen inside.
That’s exactly why Lamborghini is so crucial right now. They really just don’t care about what other companies are keying in on.
As a car lover, I need those “wow” moments. I look at cars all day, every day, so it’s necessary for things to pop up that bring out judgements and reactions that I didn’t even know I had. People who are so passionate about this subject deserve things that will make them completely rethink everything they already know about cars.
I’ve seen many comments saying that the new Lamborghinis all look like toys that could never actually work as cars. That’s a sad thought to me. True car people grow up playing with those toys. They see these wacky vehicles in cartoons, and they have concept car posters on their walls. So why can’t the dreams we used to have every night turn into real cars? Even if its production runs are restricted to three vehicles, Lamborghini responds to doubts about the cars' practicality with, “Why not?"
And we love them for that.
We love that they created a car made completely out of carbon fiber (the 20-off Sesto Elemento), we love that they created a cyborg car that costs $3.9 million, we love that they made a car that’s (supposedly) got many characteristics similar to Batman’s Tumbler, and we love the fact that they’ll be building a 600hp SUV.
Remember that the car that debuted tonight is still a concept. There’s reason that it looks like a ton of computer renderings we’ve seen online, but don’t be surprised if we see something extremely similar to that. Possibly a two-seater version as the next Gallardo?
Until we get more information, we’d like to celebrate 50 years with a cheers to Lamborghini for being so Egoista and doing whatever the hell they feel like is awesome.
