News

Lamborghini Countach Is Back As A Hybrid, And Nobody Can Buy It Anymore

All 112 units that Lamborghini will produce are sold out, and their owners will receive them in the first quarter of 2022.

Published

5 years ago

August 20, 2021

Joanna Melki

Lamborghini

There’s a handful of cars that virtually all people can recognize, and the original Lamborghini Countach, which was manufactured from 1974 to 1990 is among them. Now, the Italian automobile manufacturer is bringing the ‘80s icon back as a hybrid.

The new version is called the Countach LPI 800-4, and it’s supposed to honor the 50th anniversary of the original release. LPI stands for Longitudinale Posteriore Ibrido, or Longitudinal Posterior Hybrid in English. The number 800 is the total output of the hybrid powertrain (804 brake horsepower to be precise), and the number 4 indicates that the car uses a permanent four-wheel drive transmission.

lamborghini countach exterior front

Just like the original Countach, the hybrid successor has a naturally aspirated V12 engine, but the engine is assisted by a 48 V electric motor powered by the same supercapacitor technology used in Lamborghini’s Sián. Because the car is made out of carbon fiber and weighs just 1,595 kilograms (3,516 pounds), it can produce a 0–100km/h time of 2.8 seconds, a 0–200km/h time of 8.6 seconds, and a top speed of 355km/h.

lamborghini countach interior

lamborghini countach interior seats

But performance isn’t what the original Countach is remembered for — the distinctive angular and geometric styling is.

lamborghini countach exterior

lamborghini countach exterior rear

“The first Countach has been present in our Centro Stile as a model for some years now,” said Lamborghini’s design boss Mitja Borkert. “Whenever I look at it, it gives me goosebumps, and it serves as the perfect reminder for me and the entire design team to design every future Lamborghini in a visionary and futuristic way.”

Also Read: Dubai-Based Carasti Lets You Rent A Car For Up To Two Years

While the hybrid isn’t quite as angular as the original one (blame years of aerodynamic research), Lamborghini has successfully captured the essence of Countach and produced a car that every cyberpunk megacorp CEO would love to own.

lamborghini countach exterior mirror

But even if you’re actually are a CEO with over €2 million to spare, you can’t buy your own Countach LPI 800-4 because all 112 units (that’s how many Lamborghini is making) are sold out, and their owners will receive them in the first quarter of 2022.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.