“It’s a sculpture to be admired, it’s like a spaceship.” Mitja Borkert comments on the fascinating volumes of the Concept Manifesto, a research model with which he and his design team explore new formal horizons while celebrating twenty years of activity at the Lamborghini Style Center. We spoke with him shortly after the concept was unveiled in Sant’Agata Bolognese, the historic headquarters of the company and its design center, on October 4.
“It is pure formal research, as was the Terzo Millennio, it is a vision and statement by the Style Center for the future,” he immediately points out, specifying that the Manifesto does not anticipate any production car, but instead explores heritage and innovation. “As you know, I believe in the fundamental importance of the Countach in our history. With the Manifesto, we have once again given a different interpretation of that silhouette. We wanted to study what a Lamborghini with pure and essential forms could look like. However, our distinctive stylistic elements are still there, from the hexagon to the Y-shape, interpreted in a design that is breathtaking, iconic, and essential.”
An unmistakable identity, not only because of the wedge shape of the profile, continues Borkert. “The front celebrates the ‘sharknose’, all the surfaces are accelerated, super-clean, I really love this transition from negative to positive,” he says, running his hand along the side. “The rear is spectacular, light and hollowed out at the bottom. It is reminiscent of the architecture of a catamaran. Since this was purely formal research, we didn’t worry about feasibility issues, such as engine size and the space required for it.” Unlike the Revuelto, it was not necessary to expose the engine. The presence of the twelve cylinders is evoked by twelve niches on the surface arranged along a hypothetical axis of symmetry, thus creating a sort of spine that characterizes the rear and top views.
The Manifesto is a sculpture in name and in fact, given that it is a “full” style model. “There is no passenger compartment; for the moment, a video has been created simply using that of the Terzo Millennio.” The project was led by what Borkert calls the “crazy corner,” a small group within the Style Center tasked with imagining Lamborghini twenty years from now, without design limitations, hypothesizing even radical reinterpretations of the brand’s DNA. Artificial intelligence has begun to enter the creative process, but Borkert is quick to reassure us: technology is a tool, the final decision will always be human. “Manifesto is fantasy and inspiration made tangible. It shows how we connect surfaces, how we create purism, how we project our DNA into the future. It’s not a question of engines or technology, but of imagination: it’s the way to keep the Lamborghini dream alive.”
