Lamborghini hails Countach as ultimate design muse

The Lamborghini Countach, arguably the first ‘supercar’ ever made, is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2021.

To mark the momentous occasion, Lamborghini has credited the fabled moniker as shaping “the design of all subsequent Lamborghinis”, except for perhaps the LM002, which looks nothing like the supercar. However, it does share the same engine as the swansong Countach LP5000 Quattrovalvole.

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Unveiled in 1971 at the Geneva Motor Show, the Countach was the brainchild of one of the greatest automotive designers of all time – Marcello Gandini.

Gandini is responsible for penning virtually every Lamborghini ever made right up to the Diablo. He’s also the genius that thought up scissor doors – now a staple of Lamborghini’s flagship V12 models.

To say the Countach was a groundbreaking piece of automotive creativity is perhaps an understatement.

Its breathtaking looks were almost alien when it was released, and it instantly became what is still the ultimate poster car.

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'Countach Lines' on the Urus is perhaps a stretch

To its credit, Lamborghini isn’t talking complete marketing nonsense when it says the Countach influenced the look of almost all Sant'Agata raging bulls since.

The low, swooping side profile of the car, in particular, has been retained and flaunted in the DNA of subsequent models like the Diablo, Aventador, Gallardo, and Huracan.

As for Lamborghini attributing the Countach’s looks to the Urus SUV, which is based on VW’s MLB Evo platform and shared with the Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne, and Volkswagen Touareg, to name just a few, well, we’ll let you be the judge of that.