This is the last Lamborghini with the original V12. The engine behind the Murciélago's cabin descends in a straight line from the Bizzarrini-designed unit of 1963; the Aventador that replaced it in 2011 got a clean-sheet twelve. It was also the first Lamborghini developed under Audi, on sale from 2001.

LP640 is the 2006 update, and it was a large one. LP stands for Longitudinale Posteriore, the engine set lengthways behind the driver, and 640 is the output: the V12 grew to 6.5 liters for 640 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 660 Nm at 6,000 rpm, through a six-speed e-gear to all four wheels. 0 to 100 km/h takes 3.4 seconds and top speed is 340 km/h.

The bodywork was reworked around cooling the larger engine. New front and rear bumpers carry bigger intakes, the side intakes are asymmetric, with the left one enlarged to feed the oil cooler, and the exhaust exits through a single large outlet in a new diffuser. The wheels are the Hermera design introduced with this car, and the doors open upward, as they have on every V12 Lamborghini since the Countach.

The side intakes are also active. They rise on their own as engine temperature climbs, opening a wider path for air to the radiators, and settle flat again once it falls — a detail that was rare among supercars of the period and that owners still notice.

This car is yellow over a two-tone interior. The name is a bull's: Murciélago fought in the Córdoba ring in 1879, survived, and was spared, which is why Lamborghini took the name.