new auto cars 2012: 2013 Lamborghini Murcielago

The Lamborghini Murcielago is a two-door, two-seat sports car produced by Italian automaker Lamborghini between 2001 and 2010. Successor to the Diablo and flagship of the automaker's lineup, the Murcielago was introduced as a coupe in 2001. The automaker's first new design in eleven years, the car was also the brand's first new model under the ownership of German parent company Audi. It was styled by Peruvian-born Belgian Luc Doncker wolke, Lamborghini's head of design from 1998 to 2005.

A roadster version was introduced in 2004, followed by the updated LP 640 coupe and roadster and limited edition LP 650-4 Roadster. The final variation to wear the Murcielago nameplate was the LP 670-4 Super Veloce, powered by the largest and final evolution of the historic Lamborghini V12 engine. Production of the Murcielago ended on November 5, 2010, with a total run of 4,099 cars. Its successor, the Aventador, was released at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.

In a continuation of Lamborghini's tradition of naming its cars after stars from the world of bullfighting, the Murciélago was named for a fighting bull that survived 28 sword strokes in an 1879 fight against Rafael "El Lagartijo" Molina Sanchez, at the Coso de los califas bullring in Córdoba, Spain. Murcielago fought with such passion and spirit that the matador chose to spare its life, a rare honor.

Murcielago is the Spanish name for the bat. The word is pronounced, with a voiceless dental fricative, in the Castilian Spanish spoken in most of Spain. However, the Italian automaker often uses the Southern Spain and Latin American Spanish pronunciation. The Italian word for "bat" would be pipistrello.

The Murcielago is an all-wheel drive, mid-engined super sports car. With an angular design and an exceptionally low slung body, the highest point of the roof is just under 4 feet above the ground. One of the vehicle's most distinguishing features are its scissor doors. which lends to the extreme image. First-generation Murcielagos, produced between 2001 and 2010, were powered by a Lamborghini V12 which traces its roots back to the company's beginnings in the 1960s. The rear differential is integrated to the engine itself, with a viscous coupling center differential providing drive to the front wheels. Power is delivered through a 6-speed manual transmission. The Murcielago suspension uses an independent double-wishbone design, and bodywork features carbon fiber, steel and aluminum parts. The rear spoiler and the active air intakes integrated into the car's shoulders are electro mechanically controlled, deploying automatically only at high speeds in an effort to maximize both aerodynamic and cooling efficiency.

The first generation cars were produced between 2001 and 2006, and known simply as Murcielago, sometimes Murcielago VT. Their V12 engines produced just under 580 PS, a European unit to measure horsepower, and powered the car to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. Subsequent versions incorporated an alphanumeric designation to the name Murcielago, which indicated their engine configuration and output. However, the original cars are never referred to as "LP 580s".

The Murcielago Roadster was introduced in 2004. Primarily designed to be an open top car, it employed a manually attached soft roof as cover from adverse weather, but a warning on the windshield header advises the driver not to exceed 160 km/h with the top iB-2 stealth bomber, the Wally 118 Wally Power yacht, and architect Santiago Calatrava's Ciutat Arts i les Ciencies in Valencia, Spain as his inspiration for the roadster's revised rear pillars and engine cover.