The rakish new Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera received its world première at the 79th Geneva Motor Show on March 2 and it has been rolling out to customers across the world ever since; its arrival in Thailand within just a few months demonstrating the growing importance of this market to the Bologna Sant'Agata-based sports car brand. Bangkok is a fashion-conscious city where only the most exclusive designer brand names are held in the highest esteem and the evocative Italian Lamborghini marque with its rich history is a coveted name here.

The location of the launch was the towering InterContinental, one of the city's finest and most luxurious hotels, a venue that was fitting for such a car. It is also just a kilometre away from the glittering Siam Paragon shopping mall where Lamborghini Bangkok has its dedicated, moody-decor boutique showroom. However it was a very different story in the centre of this city just five weeks ago as the InterContinental Hotel lay empty and its lights extinguished as mass demonstrations and eventually violence gripped the downtown Bangkok. Located on Ploen Chit Road the hotel was within the confines of the sprawling makeshift camp erected by the "Red Shirts", as the supporters of the "United Front For Democracy Against Dictatorship" movement are known; they had arrived in tens of thousands to take over the city centre and press their call for the immediate dissolution of parliament and fresh elections.

Instead of the launch evening's sight of gleaming Lamborghini Gallardo and Murciélago sports cars parked nose-to-tail on either side of the sharp ramp up to the hotel's majestic entrance and the clusters of immaculately-suited hotel staff hovering to usher in guests as the unveiling night got into gear, just over a month ago right outside the busy road was littered with an array of tents, shelters and canopies as the Red Shirts, many of them from Thailand's poor rural northeast, slept on the streets in a protest that eventually lasted two months. Bordering the camp, and forcing the hotel to close its doors was a ring of fortifications made up of rubber car tyres, a latticework of sharpened bamboo poles and uncoiled razor wire. Eventually the army moved in to end the protest as it spiralled out of control, and with little waste of time the InterContinental was dusting off and getting back to business, its cavernous interior lit up and sparkling again, as it was this evening.

The low-slung form of the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera lurked under a cover in one of the elegant and spacious reception halls, dwarfed, where it sat hunched on a revolving turntable, by the room's vast size and towering ceiling, the whole vista in turn bathed in orange lights. Another example of the 5.2-litre V10 mid-engined sports car, finished in "flat white", sat in the coiffured hallway just outside where it was autographed by the dozens of guests arriving which included a mix of owners, collectors, VIPs and a cluster of city celebrities such as Thai tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan.

The evening was hosted by popular Bangkok DJ "PK" Piyawat Khempetch and the guests to be invited on stage for the introduction included the Italian Ambassador to Thailand, Michelangelo Pipan. "I know Lamborghini have been very successful and soon are going to be reaching one hundred cars sold [in Thailand] in the last four or five years which is very impressive," noted Mr Pipan, who also recalled the evocative history of the Superleggera name which historically, he said, had adorned "very beautiful cars".

As well as the Ambassador, leading figures from Niche Cars, the brand's exclusive distributor for Lamborghini in Thailand, were also presented on the stage. Niche Cars has been a player on the Bangkok automotive scene for two decades and in the late 1990s boasted the city's largest showroom. In 2003 the company reorganised to focus on four exclusive brands: Lamborghini, Lotus, Hummer and Lorinser and changed its name to Niche Cars. Lamborghini Bangkok was launched into its own dedicated showroom in October of that year and took up residence in the vast Siam Paragon mall two years later.

Dry ice, loud music, flickering lights, dancers, models clad in immaculate black floor-length ball gowns, led up to the VIPs clustering together on stage to press the ceremonial "button" on a swirling, flashing transparent globe, and instantly, the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera appeared as its dark cover was whisked away, its stunning orange colour pouring out as the dark sheet disappeared. The car was introduced by "PK" with the input of Niche Cars Managing Director Vittawat "Champ" Chinabarramee and rapid racing driver, urban legend and the face of Red Bull here, Sak Nana, simply known in the city as "Gigi", who himself drives a white Murciélago. Amongst the VIPs on stage was the President of Niche Cars, Seree Rakvit.

This latest version of the Italian sports car, which in fact passed the 10,000 unit production barrier last week, is immediately identifiable by its black side stripes with "Superleggera" in dashing white script, a carry over theme from the original 2007 model, although this time the stripe fades into pinstripes that denote the colours of the Italian national flag. Then comes the carbon fibre, key external components are finished in the lightweight composite material, including the attention-catching rear spoiler, however it is the cabin where the composite material is most evident, it is swathed in its polished patterns, the door panels are a simple carbon fit fitted with a racing style pull-handle, as well as the instrument binnacle, the entire centre console, handbrake lever and the frame of the racing-style "bucket" seats. It all adds up to a 70 kg weight saving to bring the sports car down to a leaner 1350 kg. The scripted "Superleggera" motif is also stitched, in an exterior finish-matching orange thread, into the upright sides of the seats, as well as in a long decal on the kick plates. Under the skin the "Iniezione Diretta Stratificata" engine sees its maximum power boosted by 10 CV to 570 CV and this improves all the Superleggera's performance data: zero to 100 km/h is achieved in just 3.4 seconds, while top speed comes in at 325 km/h, that is if an owner in Thailand can find a venue to allow this car to open its legs far enough to achieve this marker. Impressively, in an age of rapidly-growing environmental consciousness, Lamborghini's engineers have chopped fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by a fifth.

The show continued with more dry ice, music and lights as a glass box was theatrically lowered from a ceiling height neon light display, the container opened by "PK" who was joined on the mini-stage below by Siegfried Soria, Niche Cars' Aftersales Manager, the contents being a "Geko Key", a device that is used by the factory to ensure connectivity with each model and to ensure only authorised dealers are able to service "Raging Bull" models. Niche Cars' Aftersales department has also kept a detailed record of each Lamborghini to arrive in Thailand and their service schedules, it has also carried out painstakingly-accurate restorations to date, including a rare 1982 Countach 400S which is owned by a collector in Thailand.

ItaliaspeedTV: Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, Thailand Première, InterContinental Hotel, Bangkok