Lamborghini Aventador

The Aventador replaced the Murcielago as Lamborghini's flagship, entering production in 2011 and remaining the marque's V12 halo car until 2022. The structure marked the bigger leap: a carbon-fibre monocoque bonded to aluminium front and rear subframes, a Formula-style pushrod suspension, and a dry weight of 1,575 kg that helped offset the mass of a large naturally aspirated engine.

Power came from a new 6.5-litre V12, an all-aluminium unit designed in-house rather than derived from the engine it replaced. In the launch LP 700-4, it produced 700 PS (690 hp) and drove all four wheels through Lamborghini's single-clutch ISR seven-speed transmission. The car reached 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds and topped out at 350 km/h, pace that placed it among the quickest road cars of its era without any forced induction.

Across an eleven-year run the Aventador spawned S, SV, SVJ and roadster variants, and by the time the final Ultimae left Sant'Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini had built 11,831 examples of all types, among the highest totals of any V12 car the company had made. Its scissor doors, wedge bodywork and unmuffled exhaust came to define the look of the brand's flagship for a generation, and it stayed in production unusually long for a supercar, running through to 2022.