Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 Inspired Merediist Cell Phone by TAG Heuer

Up until recently, TAG Heuer was mostly known for its sport watches and chronographs but the famous Swiss company is now trying to make a name in the luxury cell phone market. And what a better way to do that than to team up with a specialized sportscar maker like Lamborghini to launch a limited edition handset Using its first mobile phone as a base, Tag Heuer came up with the Merediist Automobil Lamborghini that's said to be inspired by the Murceilago LP 640.

Housed in black titanium carbide coated 316L stainless steel casing, the hand-assembled quad-band GSM mobile phone packs a 1.9'' display made from 60.5 carats scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, a 2 megapixel camera (1,200 x 1,600 pixels), 2GB of memory, USB 1.0, media player, Bluetooth and roughly seven hours of talk time.

Add to that the Lamborghini logos and the exclusivity that comes from the limited availability as only 1963 pieces (in tribute to the year that Lamborghini's automotive division was founded) will be sold worldwide.

Neither Tag Heuer or Lamborghini have announced prices, but bear in mind that the standard Merediist starts at around $5,300 so expect to pay more for the Lambo edition.

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Design and finishing

316L stainless steel case with Black PVD (titanium carbide) surface treatment

316L stainless steel specific Automobili Lamborghini finishing:

Satin & polished battery cover plate with black "Automobili Lamborghini" engraving

Satin plate with limited edition number engraved

Satin camera shutter

Polished side keys

Polished top and bottom bars deco

Backlit mechanical stainless steel keypad with black PVD coating

Automobili Lamborghini selection key on key ring

60.5 carats of sapphire crystal glass on dual display screens

Automobili Lamborghini ON & OFF animations, sounds, wallpapers

Dimensions: 112mm x 46mm x 15.5mm

Weight: 160g

Performance

Autonomy: 28 days stand-by, 7 hours talk time

Imaging: 2 megapixel high-quality camera sensor (CMOS low noise) digital

camera: 1,200 x 1,600 pixels

Image quality-maximising and colour rendering software

Mechanical, automatic preview-triggering sliding camera shutter

Image formats supported: JPEG, GIF, BMP

Audio: Music playback (MP3, AAC, AAC+)

Video: Video recording and playback (H263-AMR, MPEG4-AMR, MPEG4- AAC)

End-user memory: 2GB

USB 1.0 with mass storage for easy multimedia objects exchange with PC

Network

Worldwide GSM network-compatible for best performance

GPRS class 10

Quad-band: covers all GSM countries

Hardware

2 LCD screens:

Front screen: LCD, 240 x 320 pixels, 260k colours, TFT – 1.9''

Top screen: OLED, 96 x 16 pixels

Acoustics: separate earpiece for call mode; loudspeaker for handsfree,

ringtones and music playback

Long duration battery: Li-lon 950mAh

Applications

Phonebook: up to 1,000 contacts (multi-entries and Outlook synchronisation)

Messaging: SMS, MMS

Browsing: WAP 2.0

Application: JAVA 2.0

PC synchronisation: contacts, messaging, multimedia

Apps: World clock, alarm, agenda, calendar, currency converter,

chronometer, calculator

Voice recorder

Client e-mail

Connectivity

Bluetooth: headset, car kit and data exchange profiles

Single I/O connector for charging, data exchange and wired stereo headset

via standard mini-USB

Stereo Bluetooth for audio with compatible devices

USB connection

Built-in modem

Compatible with any operator/SIM card

Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 gets a 'Fast and Furious' Treatment by JB Car Design

To be completely honest, we find nothing wrong with the way that the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 looks or goes. Nonetheless, if you happen to disagree with us and feel comfortable spending tens of thousands of euros or dollars to spruce up your LP 640 in a "Fast and Furious" kind of way be our guest. The proposal pictured here was created by JB Car Design, a tuning company from Germany that offers an array of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades for the Murcielago.

Starting with the engine bay, the tuner provides buyers with two options. The first package that will set you back €28,000 or about $41,300 at today's exchange rates, bumps the V12's output to 710HP while the second performance kit, to 750HP (pricing was not disclosed) allowing the Italian supercar to reach a top speed of 370km/h or 230 mph.

There's also a new sport exhaust system with electronically controlled flaps that allows the driver to change the sound coming out of the massive rear tailpipe.

On the outside, after painting the car in a special finish called "Blood to Black Diamond" JB Car Design kits out the Murcielago with an aerodynamic-package consisting of front and rear spoilers, rear diffuser, side skirts with modified air inlets, a carbon fiber bonnet and a new cover for the engine bay.

The supercar rides on new three-piece 20-inch Schmidt Revolution alloy wheels shod in Michelin tires size 265/30 R20 up front and 335/30 R20 at the back.

Next up is the interior that has been overhauled with new carbon fiber trim and a mixture of suede and leather materials for the seats, dashboard and door panels.

The price for a completed model (including the cost of a new Murcielago LP 640) is €500,000 or around $740,000 at today's exchange rates. The car pictured here, which is a 2008MY Murcielago with 9,000km on the odo, is also up for sale at price of €355,000 / $525,000.

Video and High-Res Photos from Nat Geo's Ultimate Factory Show: Building the New Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV

Guilty as charged; we're suckers for shows that give us an inside tour of automotive plants and the making of cars. And beginning from this Thursday, October 1st, we'll be getting our weekly dose of vehicle manufacturing with National Geographic's new one-hour episodes of "Ultimate Factories" that focus on the making of various automobiles including the Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV, Rolls Royce Phantom, Chevrolet Camaro and the Porsche 911.

Hopefully at some point NatGeo will also show the making of cars from other countries/regions such as France, Japan, China and South Korea. If anything else, it will be interesting to see the differences and similarities in manufacturing methods between different brands.

The October 1st episode of "Ultimate Factories" takes us to Lamborghini's factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy for the making of the Murcielago LP670-4 Super Veloce (SV) that was introduced tp the public for the first time at the Geneva Salon this past March.

The most hardcore version of the Murcielago is 100kg (220 lbs) lighter than its "regular" counterpart while power comes from a tweaked version of Lamborghini's 6.5-liter V12 engine that delivers an extra 30HP for a total output of 670HP. The result is a 0 to 62mph (100km/h) sprint time of just 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 342km/h or 212mph.

Lamborghini plans to limit production of the Murcielago LP670-4 SV to a total of 350 units. Each example is said to be custom-built to order with the plant churning a mere 2.7 completed cars a day.

Please note that all images were used upon special permission from National Geographic

Photo credit: National Geographic Channels / Hoff Productions

Automotive Video P@rn: Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SV on the Road and the Track

We'd advise you to sit down comfortably, relax and turn up the volume on your speakers - okay, those working in an office should forget about the above and pretend that they are talking with someone important on the phone nodding their head up and down every so often. The two videos, courtesy of Drivers-Republic, show the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce on the road and at UK's Silverstone race track where the 670HP Raging Bull model recorded a lap time of 2 minutes and 8.10 seconds beating the Porsche 911 GT2 by two seconds and the (much less costly and powerful) Nissan GT-R by 2.1 seconds.

Grazie for the tip Joker!

Bespoke Lamborghini Murcielago with Full Carbon-Fiber Kit by Prindeville

The power, the looks, the lust. And if that ain't enough, then how about some exclusivity, as promised by British tuning boutique 'Prindeville Prestige'? The tuning firm has released yet another special Lamborghini Murcielago that builds upon its previous modded Raging Bull model that we showed in March. On the outside, minus a few changes like the different tail lamps and the underlying air vents, Prindeville's newest Murcielago proposal features the same carbon fiber bodykit as before. The company states that with the exception of the front compartment lid, all the other factory panels, including the roof, have been replaced and restyled.

What's really different about the new 'Murcielago by Prindeville' is the supercar's interior that has been completely overhauled. The entire cabin has been upholstered in a two-tone ostrich hide while other notable features include the precision-milled aluminum accents on the dashboard and the lower part of the center console.

To emphasize the attention to detail in the car's interior, the company's founder Alex Prindiville said: "The standard plastic air vents aren't worthy of the rest of the interior, so although it was a complex and therefore costly procedure, we decided to manufacture replacements from aluminum."

"On their own these vents represent a significant proportion of the £10,000 (around US$16,000) cost of our interior 'jewellery pack', but it's all part of the price of doing the job properly," Prindeville added.

Prindeville did not disclose the price of the modded Murcielago, but we reckon that those seriously interested in buying the car wouldn't care less on how much it costs.