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"VW boss Ferndinand Piech is not satisfied with the new L147's design. He says that the design lacks the Italien flair of its predecessors and incorporates too many Asian influences.

It is very hard to say whether or not it is good or bad that Mr. Piech says no to the design. First of all the modifications on the design will result in a later presentation of the L147. But as it is very hard to see on the pictures of the L147 if the design is more Asian than Italien I am afraid we have to trust Mr. Piech in his judgement.

However I do not think he has made this decission on his own becuase he says that it lacks the Italien flair. That is something you would expect the Italien manegement to say if they were unhappy with the design. So my theory is that the Italien management and perhaps also Norihoko Harada of SZ (Zagato) Design may have been forced by the Asian owners to modify their design like Gandini's Diablo design was modified by Chrystlers designers. And when Audi then bought the company the Italien manegement saw a new chance to get the Italien flair back in the design.

But all this is just my guess. The only thing that is for sure is that Mr. Piech has now made in-house designers work on the design and we will have to wait to see what they come up with when the car is presented at its first motorshow.

By the way I think the design have to be an Italien design and though the presentation might be delayed I think it is a very good sign that the new owners are determened to keep Lamborghini as Italien as possible."