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Lamborghini Introduces Rare Hybrid-Electric Countach Sportscar (mashable.com) 69

Posted by EditorDavid from the limited-editions dept.
Lamborghini's exotic Countach sportscar was featured in the opening scene of the 1981 movie Cannonball Run. On the car's 50th anniversary, they've now introduced a 802-horsepower hybrid-electric version. Mashable reports: The reimagined Countach, unveiled in Monterey, California on Friday, is the Italian carmaker's second hybrid. Its drivetrain and performance borrows heavily from the Sián supercar, which was introduced in 2019 as the famous sports car maker's first hybrid. Lamborghini's new Countach (pronounced "coon-tash") has a V12 hybrid engine and 48 volt e-motor, as also seen in the Sián. It can accelerate up to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and has a 220 mph top speed. Unlike some hybrids, the Countach doesn't have a pure electric mode. Instead, it's always using a blend of the electric motor and gas engine.

The air vents on the back are 3D-printed and the roof is photochromic, meaning it switches from solid to transparent at the push of a button. There are also four exhaust pipes on the backside...

There will only be 112 of Lamborghini's new hybrid Countach ever made...
TechCrunch adds that "Powering the Countach's electric motor is a supercapacitor Lamborghini claims delivers three times more power compared to a lithium-ion battery of the same weight.

"The automaker says it mounted the electric motor directly to the gearbox to preserve the feeling of power transfer you get from a V12 engine."
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Lamborghini Introduces Rare Hybrid-Electric Countach Sportscar More

Lamborghini Introduces Rare Hybrid-Electric Countach Sportscar

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  • Not Photochromic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Sunday August 15, 2021 @08:08PM (#61695841)

    the article says:

    "the roof is photochromic, meaning it switches from solid to transparent at the push of a button."

    If it were photochromic it would be transparent at night, and get darker the more light it receives.

    If it goes from dark to trasparent at the push of a button, probably is Electrochromic.

  • Lamborghinis look really nice but McLaren has already replaced them in the same supercar aesthetic category.

    • McLarens tend to be super ugly. The F1 wasn't too bad, but it was all downhill otherwise.

    • I wonder if you still have to reverse the new Countach the same way as the originals. Hang halfway out the driver door.

      • Re: Lamborghini (Score:5, Funny)

        by jddj ( 1085169 ) on Sunday August 15, 2021 @09:57PM (#61696029) Journal

        "...a car few men can own, and even fewer can park."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rossdee ( 243626 )

        Why would you have to reverse, If you can afford one of these, you can afford valet parking.

      • I wonder if you still have to reverse the new Countach the same way as the originals. Hang halfway out the driver door.

        That will suck if you have to stop fast.

      • I wonder if you still have to reverse the new Countach the same way as the originals. Hang halfway out the driver door.

        Faced with inflexible government mandates, Lamborghini begrudgingly made room in their manufacturing cost budget for a backup camera.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ytene ( 4376651 )
        It wasn’t just the lack of rear visibility, though, it was the clutch pedal. Heavy doesn’t begin to describe it.

        • And the tiny space inside. I had to drive around with my head touching the roof and knees on either side of the steering wheel.

          As an owner? On of the worst cars ever made.

    • This one has the Transformers aesthetic down cold. This car appeals to my inner teenage self like no other. I think the McLarens are prettier than this, though.

      • That's true, especially from the rear, you almost expect to push a button and watch it transform into a robot.

        • Yes. A Lamborghini is like Brigitte Bardot. Best when appreciated from a three quarters rear angle.

      • The Countach was my first Transformer in 1984. Too bad I haven't made enough to be able to afford this update.

        Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would hate to get hybridized though. Especially Sunstreaker, the arrogant prick.

        Is that nerd enough for you?

    • Lamborghinis look really nice but McLaren has already replaced them in the same supercar aesthetic category.

      I love McLaren cars, but for sheer beauty, they've never made anything that rivals an Aventador or a Sian.

      It just has to be said: When it comes to beautiful automobiles, no one has ever been able to rival the Italians. When you gaze upon a Ferrari or Lambo in person, it's like having a nearsighted supermodel give you a shy smile in a bar. You know you're not gonna be going anywhere, but goddamn if y

    • "Lamborghinis look really nice but McLaren has already replaced them in the same supercar aesthetic category."

      Yes, I saw both cars racing the Tesla plaid, they all lost, one of the owners took his phone out and ordered a Tesla on the track after the race.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MrKaos ( 858439 )

        "Lamborghinis look really nice but McLaren has already replaced them in the same supercar aesthetic category."

        Yes, I saw both

        The Countach wasn't meant to be pretty, it is undeniably masculine.

        Yes, I saw both cars racing the Tesla plaid, they all lost, one of the owners took his phone out and ordered a Tesla on the track after the race.

        When you look at a Supercar, you are looking at a work of art.

      • Yeah but if you buy a Tesla you end up with an ugly car.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      Idk, i think the 918spyder is still the prettiest hybrid of them all

  • Who cares (Score:4, Funny)

    by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Sunday August 15, 2021 @08:26PM (#61695875)

    This is the second "electric" supercar story of the hour.

    Yeah, OK. Just what I want to go to Home Depot to get lawn irrigation parts.

    Spending $3M on a car is so last decade. These days you use that money for a sub-orbital carnival ride.

    Then go home in your Model S Plaid.

    • Yeah, OK. Just what I want to go to Home Depot to get lawn irrigation parts.

      Actually having a lawn probably makes you demographically more likely to buy a hybrid exotic than a full on BEV exotic car.

      But don't let me keep you from your watering.

      • Depends where he lives. Still, it does sound crazy, but this hypercar is slower than my Tesla SUV. What these companies are thinking releasing anything sub 2 second these days is beyond me. For that money, I dont want to think that the $130k car next to me at the light has me.

    • This is the second "electric" supercar story of the hour.

      Yeah, almost like there was a car event this week and this event is covered by news sites.

      Spending $3M on a car is so last decade. These days you use that money for a sub-orbital carnival ride.

      Then go home in your Model S Plaid.

      Both Bezos and Branson own at least 5 cars worth over $2million each.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ytene ( 4376651 )
      ”This is the second electric hypercar story of the hour.”

      No evidence to support this hunch but back in the days of Rob “CmdrTaco” Mazda, it seemed/felt as though story selection was driven much more by user submissions and much less by the editors selecting their own personal choices.

      These days it feels like that has inverted - we get a lot more click-bait content posted, a lot more story duplication and, as you point out, a lot more repetitive content. In this case it’s

    • Yeah, OK. Just what I want to go to Home Depot to get lawn irrigation parts.

      I have actually seen a Lamborghini at Home Depot. I don't recall what model, but it was a slightly older one with a strikingly beautiful paint job. The guy had parked it near the front door like he own the whole parking lot, but frankly I don't blame him.

  • Over 9000 (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Wow, this car is super Sián.

  • I hope it's stunningly overpriced.

    • It is.

      $3.5m is absolutely ridiculous for a tarted up Aventador that look kind of like a Countach but also like any other modern Lambo. Instead you can buy a perfectly preserved Miura, an actual Countach, a Diablo, and a bunch of other less cool lambos. That's what I'd do.

      But of course if you're spending over $3 million on a car, you probably already have anything else you wanted so you just need this limited edition to show off to your other 0.01% asshole friends.

      • Or it might be good as an investment if you have the cash available and assuming this is an actual LE run by Lamborghini. Garage it, rub it with a cloth diaper every so often, then sell it to some other sucker in 10 years. If I had that kind of money, I'd rather spend it on something like a real P-51, though.

      • Lamborghinis are like sex. The high end models are the ultimate driving experience. But the lower end models are still pretty damn good.

        Let’s be honest. The most uncool wrecked Lambos are still cooler than whatever you and I drive.

  • I always get this question in my mind. What do you do with it? Not just this car, but any other super car, to expensive swiss watches, to some expensive paintings (which most people can't guess distinguish between originals and duplicates selling for 1% the original's price). Looks like there are some rich people who wants to differentiate themselves from regulars and want to buy these stuff. We regulars, talk about them and they enjoy that enough to invest more in them.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      I saw a $300,000 Ferrari in a place where it takes 3 hours to travel 80 km. It is a show piece so the peasants know the owner has money to burn. There is literally no where you can travel over 80 km per hour, and any winding fun roads are simply too dangerous to take at speed.

    • I got behind some guy in a Lambo, manual gearbox, touchy clutch, trying to granny it through Atlanta rush hour traffic on a surface street. VROOM, EETCH, wait... VROOM, EETCH, wait...

      If you have more money than sense, that car is its own reward.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by spitzak ( 4019 )

        I got stuck behind one on the residential streets in Los Angeles. Very slow because he had to turn and cross each drainage culvert (concrete shallow v's that go across the road and look somewhat like crosswalks) at a 45 degree angle, apparently to prevent bottoming out.

        • A friend offered to sell me his (older, pre-Delco electrics) Lotus Esprit Turbo for $12,000. I'd taken a brief ride in it, and felt like a movie star for a few minutes.

          Then I said: "I remember having to give you a lift from the tire store: you had to have your assistant come pick up your rear wheel in her car 'cuz it won't fit in the passenger seat of the Lotus, and you can't strap it to the outside because it would break the body."

          "And didn't you try and sue Louis Cars USA 'cuz they had to adjust the clutc

    • A few people drive these cars, there are still a few roads where you can get them going pretty quickly but mostly if you want to open them up you need to take them to a track regardless.

      But a bunch of people buy the very most expensive models, drive them once or perhaps very rarely, and wait for them to appreciate. The really special ones generally do.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ytene ( 4376651 )
        And that is why the production run on this model is so limited. With the original, Lamborghini would have sold as many as they could because they were a car manufacturer.

        Now, the top end pieces are designed for, built for and sold to wannabe collectors, some of whom have different budgets. Can’t afford a Chiron? We have just the thing
      • Classic or iconic cars can be a good investment even at the lower end of the price range. A few years ago I got a Porsche 911 with high mileage (to say the least), today it is worth twice what I paid for it... and this is the 996 variant, the one that "no Porsche lover would want". There's other iconic 80s cars that go for amounts unthinkable a few years ago: Cars like the Golf GTI, Saab 900 Turbo, Renault 5 Turbo, or the Mercedes SL are sought after these days. And that really goes for anything that tic

      • You can go on a car tour and drive a lot of these nice cars [clubsportiva.com] for a price that is achievable to an average person. Can't take the car to a track, but oh well.

      • >A few people drive these cars, there are still a few roads where you can get them going pretty quickly but mostly if you want to open them up you need to take them to a track regardless.

        It's super fun when you get on the track with a bunch of people who own these cars but never drive them. I've done a couple of "Customer Appreciation Days" where the local Ferrari dealer gives a free track day. They're also the local Lotus dealer. So I take my 190hp car out and pass Ferraris left and right. I have no dou

    • Conspicuous consumption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      Hypercars like this are particularly great for ostentatious jerks because they also socially-signal that they must also have a big house with a big garage, and at least one other, more practical, car to drive in addition to the hypercar.

    • 1) Take it to the track and race it around.
      2) Show it off to your friends and hope they respect you (note: it doesn't work)
      3) Accelerate fast onto the freeway, then get stuck in a traffic jam.
      4) Drive fast on city streets anyway, then die.

    • What do you do with it?

      Drive very slowly yet noisily around downtown looking rich, stop, then go into a very expensive club.

      Or wait 30 years, buy one cheap and spend 12 hours a day lovingly fixing oil leaks. Guy I know had a Ferrari, and that's basically his life. I think one time it sprayed some lubricating fluid over the car behind on the motorway, kind of like a bond car except it actually needed the fluid in question.

  • What's the point to cram a V12 and electric motor to get a 0-60 time of 2.8 s? Latest Tesla Model S Plaid does it in 1.9 s. (signing) It's the end of the ICE as we know it...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by olddoc ( 152678 )
      The zero to 200 miles of range is about 15 seconds at a gas pump for the Lamborghini and 15 minutes at the fastest supercharger for the Tesla.

    • What's the point to cram a V12 and electric motor to get a 0-60 time of 2.8 s?

      My guess is that they designed it with the intent to do far better than that but failed for some reason. After going through all that effort they decided to go to market with it anyway, thinking it would still sell well enough to bother.

      Latest Tesla Model S Plaid does it in 1.9 s. (signing) It's the end of the ICE as we know it...

      This is the end of the ICE as we know it. I expect more cars in the future will pair electric motors with hydrocarbon burners in various configurations to reach the demands of various markets.

      Towing with an EV is great because electric motors have so much torque at low spe

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by spitzak ( 4019 )

        I think the future (if it is not all-electric) will be to have a gas powered generator on board. It is not connected in any way to the wheels and the power it produces will hardly be able to move the car, it is for recharging the batteries (or capacitors). There are designs that don't even have rotating parts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • I wonder if this 48 V e-motor makes a measurable difference in the performance?
    What's the difference with and without it ? Is it more than 5%?

    • Assuming it's the same drivetrain as the Sian, it's providing 50hp and mostly just used to make the shifts less jerky (because it still has the Aventador's ancient single clutch gearbox). "Token hybrid" is quite accurate. At least it looks good....

  • Hybrid in the weakest sense (Score:3)

    by cerberusss ( 660701 ) on Monday August 16, 2021 @03:20AM (#61696467) Journal

    Looks like it's hybrid in the weakest sense. I'm used to hybrid meaning: use gas after you've emptied the battery, OR use gas at higher speeds. This looks like some way to speed up the initial acceleration. Which is slower than a Model S Plaid.

    What I find funny is that pre-EV, lots of companies had marketing departments claiming technological innovation. Like Audi, they had this slogan in Europe about "Vorsprung durch Technik". They went a bit quiet when Tesla started planning a factory close to Berlin.

    (Note I'm not a Tesla fan. I'd never buy one. I just hate marketeers.)

    • Looks like it's hybrid in the weakest sense.

      I agree. We don't call a common diesel locomotive a "hybrid" because they have no means to power the traction motors with anything but diesel fuel. There are trains that can run on diesel or electricity and those would be a hybrid, a hybrid between a diesel and one that runs on power from overhead lines or a third rail. This is an interesting technological shift in the automotive market, and shows that there's plenty of life in the internal combustion engine yet. The internal combustion engine is far fr

      • Looks like it's hybrid in the weakest sense.

        I agree. We don't call a common diesel locomotive a "hybrid" because they have no means to power the traction motors with anything but diesel fuel.

        Yes, we in fact do. We call them a series hybrid [wikipedia.org]. Once again you spout off without knowing anything about what you are talking about, which is the only thing you can do because you know nothing about anything.

        What I find funny are those in this age of EVs are claims of how there is so little room for more technological innovation on the internal combustion engine, leaving them unable to compete with EVs. This Lamborghini is one example on how the death of the internal combustion engine has been exaggerated.

        This Lamborghini actually proves the point that the death of the internal combustion engine has not been even slightly exaggerated, as it is being made in extremely limited numbers for collectors who are going to use it as an object of speculation. Vanishingly few of them will actually be driven more t

        • Yes, we in fact do. We call them a series hybrid. Once again you spout off without knowing anything about what you are talking about, which is the only thing you can do because you know nothing about anything.

          A series hybrid has a battery to power the motors. Not only that but the battery can be charged from the grid, not just from regen braking or the ICE. The common diesel locomotive has no battery, just the uncommon ones. Even less common is the ability to charge the battery with anything other than regen braking.

          It's right there in the definition:

          The ICE turns a generator and is not mechanically connected to the driving wheels. This isolates the engine from demand, allowing it to consistently operate at its most efficient speed. Since the primary motive power is generated by the battery, a smaller generator/engine can be fitted as compared to a conventional direct drive engine. Electric traction motors can receive electricity from the battery, or directly from the engine/generator or both. Traction motors frequently are powered only by the electric battery, which can be charged from external sources such as the electricity grid.

          I put in bold the important part above. The primary motive power in a locomotive is not the battery, in all but a few locomotives the only motive power comes fr

    • Reading the post made me think about something I've wondered about from time to time. Why not a gas turbine-electric car? I've seen the Jay Leno Youtube video with his gas turbine car, but it seems to me that you could by-pass a lot of problems with gas turbines in a hybrid. The turbine could be designed to work at a single speed and single load to recharge batteries. Mostly the turbine would just kick in at its one set speed and load when the batteries were down a certain amount and shut off when they

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by olau ( 314197 )

        Batteries keep improving, so the easy solution is simply stuffing more useful battery capacity in there. What's holding back the BEV is actually more the cost of the batteries, so manufacturers tend to skimp on them. The cost is going down, though.

        BMW had the same sort of idea you had with the BMW i3 Rex, except they stuck a simple little engine on there for the range extender. From what I can gather, most people were not that fond of it in practice, perhaps because you actually don't need the range extensi

        • You're right. Batteries are getting better. Soon they'll be wiping out whole countries mining minerals for them, instead of just regions.

        • What's holding back the BEV is actually more the cost of the batteries, so manufacturers tend to skimp on them. The cost is going down, though.

          When the cost comes down then people will buy more and the price will go back up again. What is likely to drive battery prices is, like most things in our economy, the price of petroleum. There are people that can do the math and they will compute the total cost of ownership, TCO, of a BEV vs. an ICEV and buy accordingly. Petroleum prices go up, more people buy BEVs, the price of batteries go up.

          It's a myth that battery prices will come down, the markets dictate that they won't. It took me a while to re

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      The plaid needs 8-15 minutes in order to actually do the launch.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thona ( 556334 )
      It is also underpowered. Disclaimer: I do drive a hybrid sports car. Not only is a decent battery range (measured in a double digit km) decent to not wake up the neighborhood when you come in the night... ...here we talk of a 750+ HP real engine with a 35ish HP electric engine. This is tiny - you loose a lot of the advantages of the electric part. The one I do drive is 60:40 (real:electric) which DOES give you amazing boosts at the start, or accelerating after a tight corner. This one - would have to te

  • ...pronounced "coon-tash" (Score:3)

    by Tx ( 96709 ) on Monday August 16, 2021 @07:14AM (#61696751) Journal

    Is it really! Well, I guess I've been pronouncing it wrong since forever, and I fully intend to continue.

  • If I won the lottery, I'd wait for the BB512 hybrid analog. The 512 was the era's competitor to the Countach, with the exception it wasn't. It was the other way around. The 512 dominated.

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