| |
| Lamborghini Marco Polo | |
|---|---|
| Lamborghini | |
| aka | Italdesign Marco Polo |
| Production | 1982 1 unit |
| Class | Concept car |
| Body Style | MR 2+2 Coupe with Gull-wing door's |
| Length | 4,575 mm (180.1 in) |
| Width | 1,870 mm (73.6 in) |
| Height | 1,300 mm (51.2 in) |
| Wheelbase | 2,750 mm (108.3 in) |
| Weight | |
| Transmission | |
| Engine | |
| Power | |
| Similar | Lancia Medusa |
| Designer | Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign |
The Lamborghini Marco Polo, or Italdesign Marco Polo, was a styling exercise by Italdesign Giugiaro. Introduced in 1982 at the Bologna Motor Show, the Marco Polo was inspired by the Lancia "Medusa" concept car designed by Italdesign two years prior.
Name[]
- It was named after the 13th-century Italian explorer Marco Polo.
Facts[]
- The design was originally intended for an upcoming DeLorean DMC-24 sedan, but DMC ran out of money before the concept was finished.
- Italdesign then recycled the design into a concept for Lamborghini.
- The wheels on the Marco Polo are standard DeLorean alloys covered by hubcaps.
- The Marco Polo is not a running prototype, rather the design is only a painted plastic model for aerodynamic research.
- The Lamborghini badge on the nose of the car was not to imply any design program undertaken with the factory but was a compliment paid by Giugiaro to the famous manufacturer that became noteworthy for pushing the limits of automotive design.
- Although Lamborghini has a more exciting image to its products, Giugiaro decided to give this study a less aggressive line, preferring instead to focus on aerodynamic efficiency in order to provide a quieter passenger compartment and higher speed while maintaining fuel consumption.
- The "Marco Polo" features a Cx of 0.24, compared to the "Medusa's" 0.26.
- The Marco Polo, while a four-seater, has only two doors of the gullwing style, like the ones used on the Marzal, which can be opened from either the front or back seats.
- It was meant to be an evolution of the Lamborghini Espada, but it never even reached the stage of being built in metal.
- The design featured seating for four persons, with only two gullwing type doors, these doors however could be opened from both the front and rear seats, allowing easy exit for the passengers.
- The car could be installed on any chassis, but Giugiaro preferred the bull emblem from Sant’Agatha, it was to be a full four-seater, with a central mounted 5-Litre engine.
- The Marco Polo’s round lines didn’t get accepted at Nuova Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini, and it was abandoned by Ital Design. It is however noteworthy to know that almost every coach builder designed a car to be put on a Lamborghini chassis, but most of them never really proposed their design, or got rejected by the Lamborghini management.
- Actually after the Jalpa, no new Lamborghini was built up to the Diablo, so there wasn’t much room for any other designer.
- Ital Design did propose a new design to Automobili Lamborghini SpA much later, the very good looking Cala was also an ItalDesign car, but this time fully functional, again the factory didn’t take it into production and the Cala ended up in the ItalDesign factory museum.
Gallery[]
.jpg "1982 Lamborghini Marco Polo (1).jpg (130 KB)")
.webp "1982 Lamborghini Marco Polo (2).webp (71 KB)")
.jpg "1982 Lamborghini Marco Polo (3).jpg (33 KB)")
.jpg "1982 Lamborghini Marco Polo (4).jpg (184 KB)")
External links[]
