New Lamborghini Countach Has First On-Road Excursion And Meets The Parents

Controversial on its first release, the Countach LPI800-4 is back for an on-road photocall with its ancestors to court your opinion once more

The Lamborghini Countach LPI800-4 garnered some pretty strong reactions when it was revealed last year. Best thought of as a re-bodied Sian, itself a heavily modified Aventador, the LPI was branded by many as a soulless cash grab. Original Countach designer Marcello Gandini even felt the need to put out a press release clarifying he had nothing to do with the project and didn’t much care for it.

Five months and a bit on the furore has died down somewhat, and the ‘Countach’ has taken to the road for the first time in a photocall with the cars it takes heavy styling inspiration from.

So, perhaps we could look at this as the car’s second chance in the court of public opinion. And whether or not you find it to be a cynical exercise, there’s no denying it’s a striking thing, and it looks especially attention-grabbing out on the road. Book-ending the original Countach lineage, Lamborghini brought along the first-ever LP400 and the final 25th Anniversary model.

In that time, the Countach’s V12 grew from 3.9 to 5.2 litres, and the styling aggression ramped up considerably. The LPI, which is intended to evocate the earlier, cleaner versions of the Countach, gets an even bigger 12-pot – a 6.5. Its supplemented by an electric motor powered by a supercapacitor, giving a total output of 803bhp. That’s more than double what you get in an LP400.

The 800’s controversy did little to put off buyers. Rich people gonna rich, so all 112 were reported to be sold days after the Pebble Beach reveal despite the £1.7 million (plus taxes) price tag. The world’s wealthy are more minted than ever, and Lamborghini is well aware and happy to take advantage. Gandini noted this in his statement, saying: “It is clear that markets and marketing itself has changed a lot since then [the design of the original Countach].”

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The company also happily remade the original 1971 Countach LP500 Geneva Motor Show prototype, long since destroyed in a crash test, for one particularly well-off client. A price wasn’t ever revealed, but with tens of thousands of hours sunk into the car, it’ll be a punchy one of the seven-figure variety.