Lamborghini Murcielago revealed

The Lamborghini Diablo has forever been a dream car for all but a few thousand drivers. It represents speed, power and style. We've taken a look at the amazing Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0, the latest model Lambo - until now.

The Diablo's successor is here, called the Lamborghini Murcielago. It was named after a famous Spanish bull from 1879, as all Lamborghini's are named after bulls.

In actual fact, there's not much data available, as far as the technical specifications are concerned, but we have got a plethora of tasty images.

As you can tell from the photos, the styling is much less exaggerated than the Diablo, but it is still recognisable as a Lamborghini. The lines are softer and smoother and give the car a profile unlike anything else. The Diablo was sharp, this is smooth.

The massive, deep-dish alloy wheels look a treat, though opinions were divided as to the new cluster of tail-lights. Some have said it looks too retro, though others said it matches the overall style. The new headlight cluster and massive air-dams in the front apron give the car a distincly futuristic look, while still retaining some semblance of the traditional Lamborghini.

The two massive, centrally mounted exhaust pipes also add a pinch of the future, ensuring the whole package is symmetrical. The large air intakes flowing from the front wheels to the rear look great, while at the same time feeding yet more fresh air to the engine.

The interior should provide ample support when barrelling down twisty mountainous roads, with safety features, too. Lamborghini's are known for their purist design - excellent power and handling often means the interior features very few mod cons.

The Murcielago, however, comes with airbags, beige and black leather, even power windows. Well, at least it's a start...

The Lamborghini Murcielago has a unique and rather fancy way of feeding more air into the mid-mounted engine bay. Similar to the Porsche 911 Turbo's rear spoiler, which activates and rises when the car hits a certain speed, the new Murcielago has two wings or vents located just behind the main side windows.

At speed, these wings open to various angles allowing plenty of fresh air to be sucked into the engine (see image). Not only does this look cool, it actually gives the Murcielago a little more top end.

Which brings us to performance. At $340,000 ($US168,000), you'd expect this to be a world beater. And it is.

It can accelerate from stand-still to 100km/h in under 3.8 seconds. This makes it one one of the world's fastest cars, at least from 0-100km/h, as no top speed was given.

The car will use a 6.0-litre, V12 engine, much like the one mounted in the Diablo VT. It will generate about 580 ponies (432kW) via an all-wheel drive, six-speed, manual transmission.

To keep such an angry beast under control, the Murcielago has been fitted with all sorts of driving aids. Together with its all-wheel drive transmission, it uses a torque transfer system that ensures the power is put to the ground through each wheel in the most efficient way possible.

Lamborghini has even added a state-of-the-art stability control system, which works by reducing torque to individual wheels to ensure traction.

The new Lamborghini Murcielago is an inspired chunk of engineering, with looks, style and enough gut-wrenching power to take on anything, even the latest super-sports bikes.

The car will be released in 2002 in the United States, though no word on local release as yet. Keep an eye on the News section more information in future.