Lamborghini introduced the Countach LPI 800-4 over the weekend, undoubtedly hoping to rake in some of the wealth that’s been amassing in the upper echelons of society. Supposedly retailing somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million, the vehicle is effectively an Aventador with some retro-inspired bodywork with the powertrain of the new Sián.
While a 6.5-liter V12 and electric motor providing a combined maximum output of 802 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at, there was some level of expectation that the Countach design might even outdo the truly wild Sián FKP 37 Lamborghini previewed in 2019. But producing something striking is difficult when you’re simultaneously attempting to marry the concept with a 50-year-old design everyone has been fetishizing since before they were old enough to learn what that meant.
There is literally no point in my life where I wouldn’t see an original Lamborghini Countach and be forced to stop and ogle it, undoubtedly advising everyone who had been fooled into accompanying me to do likewise. But something tells me the remake won’t be getting that treatment.
The Countach LPI 800-4 is indeed reminiscent of the original and brimming with retro-inspired touches that make the car look like it was dreamt up while the original model was still in production (1974–1990). But it ultimately ends up looking more like an homage to the Diablo (after they killed the pop-up headlights) than the angular menace that was the Countach and fails to extend any unique touches to the interior. Frankly, it seems like a misstep on a vehicle that’s primary selling point is how much it’s supposed to remind you of another car.
What we have here is a presumably capable 800-horsepower supercar with an appearance package that’s intended to be sold to those people that are so rich that they’ll buy whatever limited edition bauble they can get their hands on. Frankly, that sounds like most modern vehicles retailing about $250,000. But the Countach really needed to be a cut above to make it seem like the manufacturer wasn’t simply trying to capitalize on the name and seems to have missed that target.
That’s not to suggest the car isn’t loaded with cool features or unworthy of praise. Intakes have been integrated into the doors to enhance cooling, much like its predecessor, and the integrated headlamps are roughly the same size as the original’s daytime running lights. There’s even an option to set up the car to give you a brief history lesson of Countach’s design as part of the interior display. But it doesn’t go far enough to convince pilots that they’re driving anything other than a revamped Aventador.
Granted, the classic Countach’s instrument cluster is little more than a series of pods lined up in a box and would clash if installed into a modern automobile. But Lamborghini could have easily reimagined the digital display as a revamped version of what we saw in concept vehicles from the 1980s (e.g. Nissan CUE-X, VW Orbit, Oldsmobile Incas) without needing to do much else to the interior. Though we may be looking at this all wrong.
Instead of viewing the Countach LPI 800-4 as an unworthy successor to an ocular buffet, perhaps we should consider it as another way for people to get access to some of the best bits of the even harder to get Sián. The 769-horsepower, 6.5-liter engine synched up with the supercapacitor-powered, 33-hp electrical motor is a pretty sweet piece of engineering in itself. And the Countach is just 3,516 pounds, which is over 100 pounds less than the Sián.
Lamborghini said the combo resulted in a 2.8-second zero-to-62-mph time with a top speed in excess of 221 mph. But the remaining hardware is from the Aventador, resulting in identical dimensions and a final product that resembles a composite between the original Countach and the Aventador with some Sián taillamps.
Expectations have been subverted and it’s difficult to say whether that’s good or bad, especially since our collective inability to buy one probably makes any opinions we have completely irrelevant.
[Images: Lamborghini]
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