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In 1970, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided it was time to move onto new things, he produced the sensational Miura and the big Espada, but what he lacked was a low-cost Lamborghini, a small one, to compete with the Porsche 911 and the Ferrari Dino 246. His little-bull had to be better than these two others, so he used a 2+2 configuration, rather than the 2-seater Dino, and installed a V-8 engine producing more power than the two other cars.
The Bertone Studio designed two preliminary prototypes, which were also built, but Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to use an original and elegant design by Marcello Gandini, who also designed the Miura and Espada, this car was shown to the public on the 1970 Turin Auto Show in November.
A white one was on display on the Bertone stand while a bright orange finished one was put on the Lamborghini stand. But just like the Miura, the Urraco prototype was still far from being finished, another two years were needed to make the first Lamborghini V-8 available to the public.
The Urraco used the same engine-cover louvre-design as the Miura, although this and the position of the engine are the only comparisons possible, the Urraco wasn't a full-blooded race-car, rather a high-performance touring-car.
By using an all-independent McPherson suspension, tuned by Bob wallace, the road-holding and overall performance of the Urraco were very well indeed.
The P250 looked good, with a point-like nose with pop-up headlamps and a steeply raked windshield, but the time between the presentation and the actual delivery of the first car to the customers was too long, several people had their order canceled, partly because of the long wait, but mostly because of the fact that the future of Automobili Lamborghini didn't look good at that time.
When the P250 was finally ready for delivery, it still had a few design faults, the overall workmanship left much to be desired, the ergonomics weren't too special either while the driving position wasn't very comfortable, and the vision to the outside was rather disappointing except dead ahead.
The interior was improved when the Urraco S was introduced in October 1972, leather upholstery was now used, the windows became electrically powered and tinted, and you could order special metallic paint. From 1973 on, the P250's destined for countries with no laws on emission control, had the new Weber 40 DCNF carburetors installed.
Also the overall reliability was improved starting with the Urraco S.
The first P250's used 7 x 14 inch rims, but later 7.5 x 14 inch rims were installed, the final stage of the P250 was known as the Typo III. This was actually a US-specifications Urraco, using big, black bumpers to the front and rear instead of the slim silver ones used previously and altered tail lights. But the Typo III was underpowered with only 180 bhp because the U.S. anti-pollution equipment had to be installed, which also made the Tipo III about 200 Kg heavier, subsequently this Lamborghini didn't sell well.
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