Little is known about the next line-topping Lamborghini, aside from the fact that we know it’ll have a naturally aspirated V12, and that it’s due in under six years. That’s not what’s important, though is it? We already know what it will look like. While some may roll their eyes at the idea, Lamborghini’s styling has gotten a bit predictable this last decade, and they have inadvertently left a trail of breadcrumbs leading us to where they’ll be stylistically come 2023. In particular, their pattern of styling progression from mass production car to limited edition car into the next generation of mass production car has left us with confidence that we know what the next V12 Lamborghini will look like.
For evidence, we already have a firm example of how limited releases become the backbone of the next generation of Lamborghinis. Just look to 2007’s Murcielago-based Reventón versus the current Aventador— the styling is similar enough to make us bet at least one buyer asked for their money back.
For starters, look at the nose, side inlets, and headlights. Both have a triangular nose, composed of an obtuse angle that disappears into the jutting air inlets to either side. The overall shapes are similar, made distinct only by what appears to be an afterthought of an angle added to each side. The headlights suffer from the same problem, with some rescaling and an extra corner applied in an effort to avoid activating your Pareidolia, but it nevertheless looks like makeup on the same set of eyes.
The similarity is, admittedly, not as obvious along the sides of the car, but is nevertheless present. The lower air inlets are dissimilar, but the upper inlets follow the trend found within the front of the car: changing the number of corners as a shortcut for styling. The Aventador’s upper inlet is a single edge into the hips of the car, whereas the Reventón’s have an extra corner added, swooping forward toward the doors.
The same idea is repeated at the back. The taillights are filled with identical Y-shapes, and their cover slopes upward on the Aventador as opposed to downward on the Reventón. The engine lids have the same transparent louvering, but again, more angles distract you from what is essentially the same design. It’s the same story with the rear vents. On the Reventón, they are integral with the taillights in one large polygon, the lights themselves forming the top line for the vent. For the Aventador, the lights are their own shape, but the vents are the same shape, with the extra corner moved from the inner line to the bottom. Oh, and the hexagonal exhaust? The same. The diffuser? Close to identical around the outsides.
While Lamborghini’s design shortcuts may underwhelm us, they have left us with a way to guess what the next V12 Lamborghini’s styling will resemble, with their release of not one, but two special-edition cars based upon the Aventador; the Veneno and the Centenario. The question is, which will they take after? We’ll hedge our bets on the Centenario, as it doesn’t look like a knockoff of a Le Mans endurance car. Given some of the similarities already apparent between these two limited editions, though, we may end up right no matter where we put our money.