More details have emerged of the Estoque, a bold four-door coupé-format concept car that Lamborghini will present in Paris, and that has been designed to go head-to-head with the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.

The car, to be presented this week on the occasion of the 78th Paris Mondial de l'Automobile, will be a concept study pointing to an entirely different direction for the Bologna Sant Agata-based sports car maker, which currently builds two models, the V10 Gallardo and V12 Murciélago, both rear engined, two-door coupes. However much ground work has been done already on this project to push forward its future production schedule as far as possible.

Instead of rear engines Lamborghini is going back into its history three decades to create a front engined four seat, four door coupé. As well as the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide, its showroom rivals will include the Audi A7. However with Lamborghini planning to build around 3,000 examples a year, according to Automotive News, the Estoque will have very similar production levels to the Aston Martin Rapide, but will be much more exclusive than the Porsche Panamera, which is slated to around 10,000 units a year, and the Audi A7's even bigger target of 30,000 units annually.

According to AN, the production Estoque could use a smaller engine than the Gallardo's 5.0-litre V10 unit, currently the smallest powerplant in the Lamborghini range, the automotive newspaper suggesting an Audi-built direct-injection, twin-turbo engine could be utilised. A smaller unit, reckons AN, would help to reduce the Estoque's overall length. They also believe it will be based on an all-aluminium platform. The Aston Martin Rapide will also use an aluminium chassis, but its other rivals will use steel underpinnings.

The name Estoque will continue a long Lamborghini tradition of association its product names with the area of bullfighting. The Gallardo and Murciélago are both named after famous historical fighting bulls, as are many historic models such as the Miura, and Estoque refers to a special sword that is wielded by a bullfighter. The name also has close links with Espada, the last four seat coupé built by Lamborghini which ceased production in 1978 after being built for a decade.