While both Ferrari and Porsche had issued recalls for their respective cars, Lamborghini issued a recall in 2012 for about 1,500 units of the Gallardo Coupe and Spyder variants manufactured between 2004-2006. According to the company, in certain driving conditions, the high pressure steering pipes near the steering assistance hydraulic system pump might leak. Leaking fluid, in the presence of an ignition source, could result in a fire.
Unfortunately, the victim of today's incident was an Arancio Borealis (Italian for Orange) Lamborghini Gallardo that suddenly caught fire in South Delhi's Badarpur area. If you look at the pictures closely, you can see that the fire started at the rear of the car. It is said that the car was returning from the service centre when it caught fire.
So, who is to blame? The service centre? Or the guy behind the wheel? According to Bonito Chhabria, Director, DC Design, "The car is a mechanical thing and there are 4000 different parts that keep the car moving, if one of them is not working to its optimum level, then such things are bound to happen. It's unfortunate but you really cannot predict when and how things can go wrong."
Having been around supercars, Bonito knows that this could happen if the car is not properly maintained. "A manufacturer cannot really ready itself for such a thing. From the looks of it, an oil leak led to the unfortunate incident. At such times we need to look at the positive side of things and see that no one was hurt."
Accompanied by a price tag of Rs. 2.7 crore in India, it was the most successful car for Lamborghini; the carmaker sold 14,000 units of the car in the span of a decade. The 5.5-litre hand-made engine, which was charred in this incident, punches out a hefty 513bhp. Lamborghini discontinued the Gallardo in 2013, and replaced it with the Huracan.
All said and done, we sincerely hope that whoever the car belonged to has his/her insurance papers in order.
