BOLOGNA - Tonino Lamborghini will start production of the two-seat Town Life city car this month at a small plant in Magione, central Italy. Tonino is the son of Ferruccio Lamborghini, founder of the supercar manufacturer.
Around 50 cars will be produced this month, but Tonino Lamborghini is in negotiations to acquire a new plant from the bankruptcy court to make the Town Life.
Based in Foligno, this new plant was recently built by Italian supercar manufacturer Iso Rivolta for the proposed production of the Isigo city car. It has a capacity of 5,000 vehicles a year and was closed in summer 1999.
Tonino Lamborghini says he has appointed a Town Life importer for Portugal. He is also in talks with other importers to handle distribution and sales in Spain and Germany.
Town Life will be the second vehicle built by Tonino Lamborghini. Ten years ago he began to produce a line of stylish electric golf carts, creating - he claims - Europe's largest maker of such vehicles.
The 2520mm long, 1430mm wide model is being sold in two versions: the Ginevra, powered by a 2-cylinder, 505cc diesel engine; and the Helectra, with a 4.5kW electric engine. Town Life prices start at around L17 million (euro 8,880), but Lamborghini expects the majority of customers to buy the fully specified model for L21 million.
The car was styled in-house by the Tonino Lamborghini Group. Design and development was subcontracted to Luigi Marmiroli, former technical director of Automobili Lamborghini.
Marmiroli - the father of the Lamborghini Diablo - created a steel spaceframe coupled with composite body panels for the Town Life. MacPherson struts are used at the front and rear, and disc brakes are featured all round.
