Wednesday 11th January 2017

Supercar spotting: Lamborghini Veneno

Lamborghini's mad Veneno paid a visit to London recently; PH's supercar snapper caught it in the act

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In 2013 Lamborghini announced the Veneno to celebrate 50 years of the Italian supercar manufacturer. The car is named after a fighting bull that infamously killed celebrated matador Jose Sanchez Rodriguez in 1914, and is based on the Aventador with power increased to 750hp. However, with an asking price of 3m euros (plus tax), and only four coupes in existence, the Veneno is more than just a special edition Aventador. Only three individuals were deemed worthy of owning one, leaving the fourth prototype car for the factory.

Since 2013 that prototype, car zero, has for the most part sat in the Lamborghini Museum in Italy. That was until December, when out of nowhere it arrived at Lamborghini London! Never before had a Veneno been to the UK, but to celebrate a strong year of sales the dealership was gifted the car to display over the Christmas break.

This allowed the dreams of many who had thought they may never see a Veneno to come true, myself included. I was lucky enough to see the car on the road not once, but twice, as it went in and then out of the dealership upon arrival/departure. I've never seen a car in London or anywhere else cause such a commotion, and rightly so!

That's not to say the car didn't have its flaws. The prototype car clearly was just that, a prototype. The front headlights weren't production spec, the plastic of the rear lights was cracked, loose wiring was visible in the passenger footwell, the key could have been confused with that of an Audi A3, and the tired leather in the seats had clearly accommodated a lot of bums over the past three years. While it was driving it just sounded like a broken Aventador for the most part, other than when revved hard which admittedly sounded truly incredible.

OK, so it's basically an incredibly overpriced, less practical and - some would say - less attractive Aventador SV. But for those who consider supercars a spectacle it's the dream of what Lamborghini stands for made real. Hardly surprising then that the night it arrived a customer offered £5.5m for it, only to be turned away!

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PistonHeads Social Media Manager Dafydd and I found ourselves caught up in a Lamborghini Veneno 'mannequin challenge'. All in the name of fun, though hopefully you won't spot us too clearly!

 

[Source: The Rawkus, via YouTube]

[dafeller]

Design-wise, an eight-year old's wet dream. Otherwise, meh.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Hideous.

All those muppets stood around it with their phones like it's a work of art. Saddos.

[KrazyIvan]

God I nearly threw up reading that. It's a car (and not a great one) for goodness sake not a returning war hero.

[Dave Hedgehog]

fantastic wall poster car

[Jex]

Presumably its radar signature is very low.

Edited by Jex on Wednesday 11th January 10:41

[TerryThomas]

I love it for its outlandishness.

[TerryThomas]

Is it still at Lamborghini London?

[Jonno02]

Looks like somebody said to the Civic Type R designer "make something even worse!"

[Oz83]

The only design feature I like is the shape of the rear wheel arches in profile.

[Adz The Rat]

I saw someone on Instagram mention they got up at 4am and drove down from Cumbria to see it.

Now I love supercars as much as the next person, but that's just sad.

[jhonn]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Hideous.

All those muppets stood around it with their phones like it's a work of art.

Yep, seems like a case of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' to me - the designers will be having a laugh.

[Tuvra]

It's not for me, I'd take a whole host of other Lamborghini's over it.....

[generationx]

I saw the red open top at Techno Classica Essen in 2015



As a bonkers Lamborghini poster car it´s perfect. But as a road car give me a lime green Aventador instead please.

[ThomasHowarth]

Adz The Rat said:

I saw someone on Instagram mention they got up at 4am and drove down from Cumbria to see it.

Now I love supercars as much as the next person, but that's just sad.

Hmmm, that might have been me.

[Hatchoo]

"Only three individuals were deemed worthy of owning one"

I wonder how the process of worthiness deeming operates?

[Tuvra]

Hatchoo said:

"Only three individuals were deemed worthy of owning one"

I wonder how the process of worthiness deeming operates?

Probably whoever has thrown the most money at Lamborghini over recent years.

[AshBurrows]

Hatchoo said:

"Only three individuals were deemed worthy of owning one"

I wonder how the process of worthiness deeming operates?

This, like Ferrari, is always nonsense posturing and just means, "people who had the most money in their wallet but want to feel special."

[ukaskew]

Struggling with the frequency of these articles on the front page a bit, is this where things are going, the excitement of a rare car being 'seen on the road' (which, when you read the detail, is literally it being wheeled out of a transporter into a dealership)?

[Davey S2]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Hideous.

All those muppets stood around it with their phones like it's a work of art. Saddos.

+1 Just looks like a really bad body kit

[Hatchoo]

Tuvra said:

Hatchoo said:

"Only three individuals were deemed worthy of owning one"

I wonder how the process of worthiness deeming operates?

Probably whoever has thrown the most money at Lamborghini over recent years.

It would be disappointing if worthiness deeming didn't also take into account the degree to which the supplicant was powerfully built.