Lamborghini is at a crossroads. Like other car makers, it is moving to electric and, as a result, is phasing out its combustion engine-only cars. Yet unlike many other manufacturers, Lamborghini is defined by loud, brazen, muscular sports cars. This will be no easy transition. Yet before we start to worry about the future, we can, at least, enjoy the present and that is all about limited-edition, last-of-the-line, models that will represent the last hurrah for the petrol engine.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was a successful tractor maker before famously turning to cars after a fallout with his near neighbour Enzo Ferrari. The story goes that after Lamborghini dared to criticise the cars made by the prickly “il Commendatore”, Ferrari said to him, ‘Let me make cars. You stick to making tractors.’

He, of course, did the opposite. While Ferrari was obsessed with winning races and road cars were of almost secondary concern, Lamborghini created models that adorned the bedroom walls and screen savers for generations of devotees. The word “supercar” was coined for his Lamborghini Miura but the elegant, Marcello Gandini design looks positively demure compared to what followed a few years later.

The wedge-shaped Countach was outrageous and must have looked like it had landed from a different planet when it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971. It got hearts racing for a variety of reasons. It didn’t matter that it was cramped with poor sight lines and mildly terrifying to drive even at low speed, never mind with the V12 screaming. The Countach was bewitching.

The Italian exotic car maker, symbolised by a bull rather than the stallion of Ferrari, survived many mercurial years before falling into the relatively safe hands of the Volkswagen Group, which gave the brand financial stability and endowed the cars with German reliability to temper their Italian flair. Cut to 2023 and we have a run-out model of real poignancy in the Aventador Ultimae, the end of the bloodline for naturally aspirated, mid-engined V12 monsters. The engine dominates and in the Aventador Ultimae it still gets star billing with 6.5 litres, 48 valves and at 769bhp, it’s the most powerful yet. It crackles into life with its missile launch starter button and the cacophony of sounds it goes through en route to its 8,700rpm redline is alarming and compelling at the same time.

The heroic power plant is backed up by the dramatic body. Lamborghinis are many things, but they are not shy. The angular body lines are only broken when the scissor doors arc upwards allowing entry. Make no mistake: this is a wild looking car that will make a toddler grab at its parent’s coat and squeal with delight. That’s the thing about Lamborghini: a three-year-old without a jot of knowledge or nostalgia can tell the Lamborghini is a little bit special and worth jumping up and down for. They just wouldn’t react in the same way to the Nissan Qashqai.

This car will stampede all the way to 221mph, yet the thrill with most Lamborghinis, especially in these chastened times, is not experiencing the outer limits of ability but having the potential of its performance under your right foot. Despite this threat, electronic wizardry has made these modern interpretations somewhat easier to drive than the Lamborghini supercars of old, which were a bit of a handful.

You could highlight some of the downsides of this car, but is there any point? Journalists might flag up the cramped cabin, the outdated single-clutch gearbox, old-school infotainment or the lack of meaningful storage. It’s pointless, of course, as no one considers buying a highly strung Italian supercar while employing common sense.

There have only been 600 of these Ultimaes built, 350 coupes and 250 roadsters, but Lamborghini had to fire up production again when the cargo ship Felicity Ace sank in the Atlantic, sending 15 gleaming Aventador Ultimaes to Davy Jones’s locker. No doubt

Lamborghini will crack the electric code and deliver spectacular bedroom poster-worthy cars for many years to come, but for now, let’s celebrate the twilight era of one of the most outrageous mid-engined V12 supercars. This car is not skulking off, embarrassed, by any stretch. These theatrical, last of the leviathans are proudly going out like James Brown after multiple encores being graciously escorted off, cape draped over him after an exhilarating performance. The Godfather is exiting stage left, head held high.

lamborghini.com