There are nine people in America who probably aren't very happy right now.
Italian auto manufacturer Lamborghini issued a recall order for the 2022 Lamborghini Countach, a hybrid version of the classic sports car, due to concerns that the rear glass panels could detach, according to a November 17 filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The filing lists nine potential vehicles, a rather low number compared with the typical recall, but not too surprising given that only 112 units were produced for a base price of $2.6 million each.
Lamborghini, which is owned by Volkswagen (VWAGY) through its subsidiary Audi, said it has not received any reports of a crash or injury due to this issue.
The automaker said it had received a report about the problem in Qatar, site of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and home to more millionaires per capita than any place on earth.
'Proactive Recall Campaign'
The defect was caused by an error in a suppliers' assembly phase concerning the bonding of the glass panel, the filing said.
After an investigation, Lamborghini's public safety committee decided to launch a "proactive recall campaign worldwide," the company said.
The company said affected vehicles will be inspected for appropriate bonding of the glass panels which will be replaced, if necessary.
Customers will be notified by registered mail and customer app.
The decision was made just about a week before the debut of the film "Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend," a biopic abut the company's founder Ferruccio Lamborghini.
The film reportedly opens with a race between the founder, sitting behind the wheel of Countach, and rival Enzo Ferrari in one of his famous cars.
It was Ferruccio Lamborghini who initiated development of the original Lamborghini Countach with a goal of creating a successor to the Miura, which had debuted to much acclaim in 1966, but had begun feeling the pressure of competition by 1970.
'We Make Dreams Come True'
The first showing of the Countach prototype occurred at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. The Lamborghini engineering team went to work for the next three years and came up with the LP400 Countach in 1974.
While most Lamborghini cars bore names associated with bullfighting, the Countach broke with that tradition, as its handle comes from the word "contacc", an expression of amazement in the Piedmontese language.
The Countach popularized the "Italian Wedge" shape design and Lamborghini produced the car between 1974 and 1990 with a total production number of just 2,049.
The LP400S made an appearance in the 1981 Burt Reynolds' film "The Cannonball Run." In 1990, the Countach ended its run to make way for the Lamborghini Diablo.
Lamborghini revived the Countach in 2021 "as a limited-series hybrid supercar" that was "inspired by the past, made for the future."
The new version is based on the hybridized powertrain of the Sian FKP, a mid-engine hybrid-electric sports car, and boasts a maximum speed of 220 miles per hour.
"We make dreams come true," the company tweeted on August 9, 2021. "We did it with the classic Countach in the 1970s. And we’re doing it again. The new Lamborghini Countach is coming."
