Diablo is one of the most feared and legendary Lamborghini models. Here are seven things you need to know about the Raging Bull “devil”
1. Diablo was the spiritual successor of Lamborghini’s most iconic and longest-selling model, yet – Countach (pictured here). It took five years from drawing board to production and was timed with the discontinuation of the latter.
2. Diablo was actually launched under Chrysler’s ownership of the Italian marque. Italian Marcello Gandini penned the initial sketch of the Diablo. However, the production model was restyled by the American company’s design center.
3. Diablo emerged as the fastest production car in the world at launch. It could touch 325kph. In 1990. It’s 5.7-litre, 12-cylinder engine made nothing less than 492bhp and 580Nm. All the power to the rear wheels only. Sounds scary?
4. Diablo’s “luxurious” interiors of the time featured leather interiors, air conditioning, electrically adjustable seats, and electrically-operated windows. No electronic driver aids…they wanted to keep the driving experience raw.
5. In its lifetime, Diablo spawned a total of nine more iterations including the first four-wheel-drive Lamborghini GT (Diablo VT, 1993 seen here) and the first open-top V12 (VT Roadster, 1995) to come out of Sant’Agata Bolognese.
6. A restyled Diablo SV was the first Lamborghini under its new Audi ownership. Luc Donkerwolke, Lambo’s first in-house designer, worked on this. The engine now was more powerful (522bhp/605Nm) and it was the first Lamborghini to get brakes with ABS.
7. In the last year of the sale, Diablo got a bigger 6.0-litre engine (pictures here). After building a total of 2903 units, Lamborghini discontinued it at the start of this century and replaced the Diablo with another beast – the Murciélago.
Girish Karkera