Lamborghini Confirms LP700 Will Be First Production Car With a Pushrod Suspension

The successor to the Murcielago is shaping up to be an outrageous performance machine. Sporting a 690-hp 6.5-liter V12 engine and a complete carbon fiber monocoque, Lamborghini has now officially confirmed that the new supercar will be the first series production machine to get a pushrod suspension.

Rather than a conventional setup, the pushrod suspension is the very same design used in Formula 1 or Le Mans prototype cars, dividing the work of controlling the wheel and the appropriate amount of damping. This also allows for reduced spring rates, improving comfort. Like the Murcielago, the new model will retain the front-end lift feature, that allows for an additional 40mm of clearance.

The car will ride on 19-inch wheels with 255/35/19 tires up front and 335/30/19 tires in the rear.

Back at the Detroit Auto Show, Lambo execs informed us that the new car, rumored to be called the Aventador LP700-4, will keep the current cars DNA, retaining scissor doors, AWD and the current models massive air intakes. The 18-percent more powerful V12 will be mated to an ISR 7-speed transmission – the first use of a 7-speed with a V12 in the industry. With five gear settings, (auto strada, auto sport, strada, sport and corsa) the innovative transmission will be able to deliver shift times of just 50 ms in Corsa – which is almost as quick as a Formula 1 car.

As for the rest of the car it will be more ergonomic than even the Gallardo, with space for larger drivers. The dash will feature a new TFC instrument cluster, meaning that it won’t have traditional physical gauges, but that all instrumentation will be displayed on a screen.

Stay tuned for the official debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March and see AutoGuide’s complete 2011 Geneva Auto Show preview here.