Lamborghini Gallardo

The Lamborghin Gallardo is the most-produced model to date, with 5,000 built in the first three years of production. It is less expensive than Lamborghini's larger, more powerful Murciélago.

The car is named after a famous breed of fighting bull. The Spanish word gallardo translates into "gallant," and from Italian into "striking".

The Gallardo was designed as a competitor to the Ferrari 360, and now competes with its replacement, the Ferrari F430. The Gallardo has a rear-biased all-wheel drive system which differentiates it from its rear-wheel drive competitors. Lamborghini's parent company Audi is renowned for its quattro 4WD system, however Lamborghini uses a system of its own.

Unlike the Countach, Diablo, and Murciélago models, the Gallardo does not have scissor doors.

The Gallardo was designed by Luc Donckerwolke, who won the 2003 Red Dot Award for the design of both the 2003 Gallardo and 2002 Murciélago.

As of March 2008, the Gallardo is the only model to use the Lamborghini V10 engine.

The Gallardo offers two choices of transmissions, a conventional (H-Box) six-speed manual transmission, and an advanced six-speed electro-hydraulically controlled 'semi-automatic single-clutch sequential manual', which Lamborghini abbreviates to "E-gear". The "E-gear" allows the driver to make shifts much faster than a manual transmission would. The driver shifts up and down via paddles behind the steering wheel, and does not need to manually actuate the clutch.

The Audi R8 sports car, launched in early 2007, is based on the Gallardo platform, and uses a 4.2 litre V8 in place of the Gallardo's V10 to avoid competing directly with the Gallardo.

For the 2008 model year, an onboard computer, iPod connectivity with USB, heated mirrors, Q-citura stitching that originally could only be found on the Nera model, and a beige soft-top on the Spyder, were added to the Gallardo.

Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 was revealed at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show. It is powered by a new 5.2L V10 with FSI direct injection, generating 552 hp (412 kW) and 398 ft·lbf (540 N·m) of torque. The engine is heavily based on the new Audi RS6 V10. [7][8] Unlike the precedent engine, this engine no longer has split crankpins, so it is not even firing, but Lamborghini says that due to the stiffer crankshaft it has less vibrations than the previous engine. Also, a revised transmission and four wheel drive system as well as a 20 kg (44 lb) weight loss are expected. The 4 at the end of the name refers to the Gallardo's permanent four-wheel-drive system. It also incorporates a new front bumper heavily influenced by the Lamborghini Reventon. Pricing of the Gallardo LP560-4 will start at around US$222,000.

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Car - Lamborghini Gallardo

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