The idea of building a luxury SUV at Sant’Agata Bolognese first arose before the SUV segment had even come into being. In 1977 Automobili Lamborghini unveiled the Cheetah to the world. The project was still in its infancy, but there was a clear desire to make history. Three years later, the Cheetah project was taken up again, and out of the ashes of this fully off-road vehicle emerged the LM001, a prototype that could harness the power of a rear-mounted V8 engine under extreme conditions and on treacherous terrains such as the desert. The sector was new, as were the hurdles to be overcome – it was truly pioneering stuff and, like any prototype, the LM001 still had its teething problems.
But going beyond the limits of off-road vehicles no longer seemed impossible. A few years later, a new prototype was unveiled, the Lamborghini LMA, with a front-mounted V12 engine from the Countach, which made a compelling sound and developed incredible power. When the LMA was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1982, the stunning vision of our engineers had the whole auto world dreaming.
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