The bull on the Automobili Lamborghini insignia matches perfectly the company's reputation of building exotic sports cars. From the Miura, the Countach, to the Diablo, every automobile that has rolled out of the Sant'Agata Bolognese factory was designed with the same forceful personality as the fighting bull shown on the emblem: Its head hunched over, nostrils flared, horns lowered and pointed forward, there is absolutely no uncertainty about its aim to intimidate.
After a flurry of ownership changes in the past decade, Lamborghini had lost a bit of the fighting bull's hard-charging attitude and badly trailed its cross-town prancing horse rival. But out of chaos came renewed focus and determination. Now under Audi's ownership, Lamborghini is poised to get back on track. Following the successful launch of the Murciélago just a few years ago, the Italian sports-car maker is adding another member to its family: the Gallardo (pronounced ga-yárdo). It's sexy, it's fast and it's agile. And, of course, intimidating.
In photographs where the larger Murciélago and the new Gallardo are staged together, the relative size difference seems minimal to the eye. However, in person, the new Lamborghini's smaller footprint is apparent. While the Murciélago sports an overall length of 180.3 in. and width of 80.5 in., the Gallardo is considerably shorter and narrower-169.3 in. long and 74.8 in. wide.
There is a lot of family resemblance between the overall design themes of the Murciélago and the Gallardo. The lower front bumper on both cars is capped at the edge with blacked-out mesh screens that lead into air intakes for the two split radiators. Also, both have the expansive front hood with two cutlines that run all the way to the large and almost flat windscreen. But that's where the similarities end. While the Murciélago takes a flowing and smooth approach to its exterior lines, the Gallardo wears a more straight-cut and boy-racer-type skin.
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