This, then, is the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4. We've seen so many teaser pictures of bits and pieces of Sant'Agata Bolognese's new flagship that this media release from Geneva seems almost like an anticlimax - until you start to take in the details of what really is a next-generation supercar.
The whole car is so much more than the sum of its parts; the Aventador is a completely new technology package, starting with Lamborghini's first carbon-fibre monocoque body shell.
As on the McLaren MC12, the passenger cell, complete with tub and roof, is one single component, ensuring extreme rigidity and outstanding passive safety for the driver and his passenger. The cell weighs only 147.5kg - add the aluminium front and rear sub-frames and the whole chassis tips the scales at just 229.5kg. Yet Automobili Lamborghini is claiming impressive torsional stiffness of 35 000 Nm per degree.
So new is the technology that the Aventador will be made in a purpose-built new facility at the Sant'Agata factory.
Cradled in the rear sub-frame is a new 6.5-litre, all-aluminium, V12 that weighs only 235kg and delivers a claimed 515kW at a screaming 8250rpm and 690Nm at 5500 - a remarkably wide spread of power for a performance car.
It's also cleaner than its predecessor; fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are down by about 20 percent despite the eight percent increase in power.
All that muscle is channelled via an all-new semi-automatic transmission using independent shifting rods, with what the maker claims is the fastest-shifting cogset in production - just 50 milliseconds. It's also lighter than a dual-clutch transmission - crucial for this particular car - and physically smaller than a conventional manual 'box.
It drives all four wheels - but you guessed that from the last digit in the car's name - through an electronically controlled Haldex centre coupling that changes the power split between front and rear axles in milliseconds to match the dynamic situation.
The rear differential is self-locking but the front differential is electronically controlled by the electronic stability programme. The entire programme - engine, transmission, differential, steering and dynamic control - can be set at the flick of a switch to one of three modes: Strada (road), Sport and Corsa (track).
Suspension is by aluminium double-wishbones - one of the few “conventional” technologies on the car - modulated by Formula One-inspired pushrod spring and damper units.
Carbon-ceramic brakes are standard (one would expect nothing less) and the whole car weighs only 1575kg, giving it an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 327kW/ton and delivering hair-raising performance: 0-100 in less than three seconds and 350km/h flat out.
At a presentation on the eve of the Geneva show Automobili Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann said: “The future of the super sports car is now part of the present. The Aventador's exceptional package of innovative technologies is unique, its performance simply overwhelming.
“The car is a jump of two generations in terms of design and technology, it's the result of an entirely new project, but at the same time it's a direct and consistent continuation of Lamborghini's brand values. It is extreme in its design and its performance, uncompromising in its standards and technology, and unmistakably Italian in its style and perfection.”
It's a big car - 4.78m long and an intimidating 2.26m wide across the mirrors but only 1.136m high (to put that into perspective, it's only 12cm taller than the Ford's classic GT40 racing car). The Aventador is unmistakably a Lamborghini, with taut curves stretching from nose to tail, crisp edges and simple, strong proportions.
And the doors open upwards, of course, as on the legendary Countach - first shown exactly 40 years ago at the 1971 Geneva show! - and on subsequent V12 models such as the Diablo and Murciélago. As on its immediate predecessor, the Murciélago, electronically controlled air intakes open depending on the ambient temperature and the need for cooling air.
The cockpit combines premium materials and Italian craftsmanship with state-of-the-art technology, starting (literally) with a red switch cover on the broad centre console that opens to reveal the engine start-stop button. The fascia is dominated by a liquid-crystal instrument panel and a standard multimedia/satnav colour display.
And the name? Lamborghini cars are traditionally named after famous Spanish fighting bulls; Aventador was the name of the bull that won the 1993 “Trofeo de la Peña La Madroñera” at the Saragossa arena for its outstanding courage.
Most supercar makers are (understandably) coy about pricing; even if they do quote a price it will usually be ex-factory, leaving the customer to deal with local import duties and taxes.
Not so Automobili Lamborghini: herewith Aventador base prices for major markets around the world:
Britain: £201 900
Europe: €255 000
United States: $379 700
China: 6 270 000 yuan
Japan: ¥39 690 000
South Africa: R5 500 000*
The first customers will take delivery of the new Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 in the third quarter of 2011.
*We'll save you the arithmetic: the Aventador will cost more than double in South Africa than it will in most other countries.