A New Poster for Your Bedroom Wall: Lamborghini Reintroduces the New Countach

Something awesome happened in in 1971 at the Geneva Motor Show. Italian car design house Bertone’s Marcello Gandini penned his second Lamborghini masterpiece called the Countach, which was unveiled at the event. His first design was the Miura and it became the brand’s first mid-engine rear wheel drive sports car that was to define how Lamborghini cars are laid out even up to now.   

Unlike almost all Lamborghini cars, the Countach name wasn’t the name of a bull or any Hispanic reference to bullfighting. It’s an old Italian expression that sounds almost like a mild cuss in the Piedmontese dialect. Pronounced ‘Coon-tach,’ the word loosely translates to “amazing.” 

Photo by Lamborghini.

It turns out, amazing was an understatement. The image of this car on posters would adorn the walls of almost every boy who grew up in the 1980s. The Lamborghini Countach redefined how a super sports car should be and should look like. It had a huge V12 engine and a sleek profile like no other car in its time. The car looks quite modern even by today’s standards.

The new Lamborghini Countach

Fast forward five decades after, Lamborghini has revived the Countach nameplate, the first time it has ever done so. The new model is named the Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4. The acronym LPI stands for Longitudinale Posteriore (LP), which means the engine was mounted midship, while the I stands for hybrid technology.

Lamborghini says the new Countach design and technology is a benchmark for modern super sports cars, reimagined for a new era. It even made a video that went viral among car enthusiasts entitled “Our legacy to the future.” The Italian supercar brand even held a celebration for the Countach’s 50th anniversary, which was held at the prestigious Pebble Beach called “The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering.” 

Photo by Lamborghini.

Only 112 units of the Countach will be produced, which is bad news for mega-rich car collectors. That means if you didn’t already order one, you won’t be able to have one since it was all sold out, Automobili Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann said. 

“The Countach LPI 800-4 is a visionary car of the moment, just as its forerunner was,” he said. “One of the most important automotive icons, the Countach not only embodies the design and engineering tenet of Lamborghini but represents our philosophy of reinventing boundaries, achieving the unexpected and extraordinary and, most importantly, being the ‘stuff of dreams.’” 

“The Countach LPI 800-4 pays homage to this Lamborghini legacy but it is not retrospective: it imagines how the iconic Countach of the 70s and 80s might have evolved into an elite super sports model of this decade,” he added. “It upholds the Lamborghini tradition of looking forward, of exploring new design and technology avenues while celebrating the DNA of our brand. It is a Lamborghini that innately expresses the marque’s enduring and emotive power: always inspirational and thrilling to see, hear and most of all drive.”

Photo by Lamborghini.

Million-dollar car 

Just like the original Countach, this latest iteration has a powerful V12 engine but it comes with a 48-volt e-motor and supercapacitor technology delivering 780 cv from thermal unit and 34 cv from electric motor that is rated over 800 horsepower, hence the number 800 in the new nameplate. The new Countach also allowed the Italian supercar brand a stylish transition from pure internal combustion engine to its eventual electricification. Why not? The LPI 800-4 propels the car from zero to 100 kph in just 2.8 seconds, and zero to 200 kph in just 8.6 seconds. It has a top speed of 355 kph. 

As of press time, there was no official SRP of the sold-out nameplate but estimates range from $2 million to $3 million (P101.3 million to P152 million). Since the Countach is already official sold out, it’s probably safe to assume prices will skyrocket to twice the amount in no time. When it first came out, the original Countach was sold in the US for $72,000 (P3.65 million), which is roughly $400,000 (P20.26 million) in today’s prices. Production of the original Countach ended in 1990 with 1,983 total units rolling off the manufacturing facility. It is estimated that about 1,500 units are still in existence today.

Inside, the classic and luxurious leather features geometric stitching on the specially designed comfort seats and dashboard, sporting a square motif reminiscent of the bold styling of the original Countach of the 1970s. Modern accoutrements include an 8.4” HDMI center touchscreen unique to the LPI 800-4 that manages car controls including connectivity and other features like Apple CarPlay.

Photo by Lamborghini.

The Countach LPI 800-4 sports a set of 20-inch (front) and 21-inch (rear) wheels patterned after the ‘telephone’ style of the 1980s, fitted with carbon ceramic brake discs, and Pirelli P Zero Corsa high performance tires. Lamborghini says that the exclusive limited edition Countach LPI 800-4 can choose from a range of heritage exterior paint options, mostly in solid colors, such as Impact White, Giallo Countach and Verde Medio. Other offerings include metallic colors such as Viola Pasifae or Blu Uranus.

Still photos do not do justice to the new Countach, so check out their launch video to get a better visual of the interior and exterior features of this new Lamborghini icon here and here. 

Photo by Lamborghini.