Original designer slams new Lamborghini Countach

Lamborghini’s re-born Countach has been slammed as an unoriginal marketing stunt by a man who should know – the creator of the original.

Marcello Gandini, who was responsible for shaping the Countach during his time at the Bertone design studio, has released a statement deriding the new, limited-edition, Aventador-based Countach.

READ MORE: Lamborghini reveals re-born Countach

“I have built my identity as a designer, especially when working on supercars for Lamborghini, on a unique concept: each new model I would work on would be an innovation, a breaker, something completely different from the previous one,” Gandini said in his written statement. “Courage, the ability to create a break without sticking to the success of the previous car, the confidence in not wanting to give in to a habit were the very essence of my work. It is clear that markets and marketing itself has changed a lot since then, but as far as I am concerned, to repeat a model from the past, represents in my opinion the negation of the found principles of my DNA.”

The 83-year-old appeared in an official Lamborghini video earlier this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic supercar. He claims that during the filming of the interview current Lamborghini design boss, Mitja Borkert, presented him with a scale model of the planned revived Countach. However, Gandini claims no-one made it clear to him that the model represented a future production model.

Gandini’s statement implies that he was unimpressed by the design of the model, but “did smile and acknowledge as would be customary to do so.”

For its part, Lamborghini had no trouble selling the 112 examples of the new Countach LPI 800-4, so clearly customers didn’t share Gandini’s concerns.

Borkert hasn’t publicly responded to his predecessor’s comments but did explain his reasons for creating the new Countach at the time of its launch.

“The first Countach has been present in our Centro Stile as a model for some years now,” Borkert said. “Whenever I look at it, it gives me goose bumps and it serves as the perfect reminder for me and the entire design team to design every future Lamborghini in a visionary and futuristic way. This is an unnegotiable [sic] part of our DNA, the essence if you will. The first Countach shaped the Lamborghini design DNA like no other car; the new Countach translates that unconventional and edgy character into the future.”