Raging Bull History: Chrysler’s Brief Ownership of Lamborghini
American automaker only owned Lamborghini for seven years, but the time led to key vehicles for both companies.
The Lamborghini brand got off to a great started when the company was founded in the 1960s, but like so many other performance cars around the world, climbing fuel prices and gasoline shortages led to a steep decline in supercar sales. According to Driving, the brand would eventually be sold to the Chrysler Corporation in 1987, only to be sold to an investment firm seven years later, but that short period of time brought about some critical vehicles for both companies.
Changing Hands Over the Years
The 1970s were particularly bad for Lamborghini, with the company declaring bankruptcy in 1978 before ending up in the hands of three Swiss brothers in 1979. Robert, Jean-Claude, and Patrick Mimran attempted to grow the brand, but the only time that they ever made money was in 1987, when they sold Lamborghini to the Chrysler Corporation for $25 million.
Chrysler owned Lamborghini until 1994, when it was sold to Mycom Setdco and V’Power Corporation, with that investment group selling the brand to Volkswagen Auto Group in 1998. VAG continues to own Lamborghini today, but the short stint where Chrysler was in charge led to one very odd car and one very important car for the Italian brand.
The Portofino
The unusual vehicle from Lamborghini under Chrysler’s leadership was the Portofino. This sleek sedan was built with Chrysler design language on a Jalpa chassis and the Jalpa’s 3.5-liter V8. The front wheels were pushed forward, placing the engine within the wheelbase and technically making the Portofino a mid-engine sedan, but it still offered loads of interior space.
Even more unusual than the overall shape and look of the Portofino was the door design, which featured four doors that opened upward, with the front doors rolling forward and the rear doors rolling towards the rear of the car in the air.
The Lamborghini Portofino was formally introduced at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show, but that was as close as it would get to being a production car. Only one example was made and it is currently housed in the FCA historical vehicle collection and while it didn’t lead to a Lamborghini production sedan, this was the first example of the cab-forward design that would be the basis of Chrysler sedan design in the 1990s.
The Diablo
Where Chrysler’s leadership of the Lamborghini brand played a positive role for the Italian brand was in the completion of the Diablo. Originally named Project 132, this angular supercar had been underway when Chrysler bought the company, but the American automaker oversaw the completion of the project, bringing it to market in 1990.
The Lamborghini Diablo was one of the greatest performance cars that the world had ever see, with a 5.7-liter V12 delivering 485 horsepower and 428 lb-ft of torque. With the help of a 5-speed manual transmission and a low coefficient of drag, the Diablo could dash from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 4.5 seconds while reaching a top speed of 202 miles per hour. That made the Diablo the fastest production road car in the world, leading to a big spike in Lamborghini sales.
Sadly, sales quickly tapered off, but the success of the Diablo would lead to the creation of the Lamborghini Murciélago, ushering in the modern era of Raging Bull performance.
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