JUST when you thought it was safe to wheel out your Ferrari without fear of competition, Lamborghini upped the ante with two new versions of its Aventador and Huracan fireballs.

Its Aventador S polishes the six-year-old model’s design with new panels and trim, increases power to 544kW (from 522kW) and replaces the suspension with one that includes four-wheel steering.

Revealed in December, and available in Australia from last month, the “S” LP740-4 is the next generational step for the Aventador.

At $789,425 starting price, it is now the mid-spec Aventador coupe, sitting above the LP400-4 ($761,500) and beneath the exclusive SV ($891,500).

The new model, and an expanded range of the Huracan series, is hoped to improve national sales of the brand that have languished nationally with 71 sales in the first seven months of the year, down 22 per cent or from 91 units sold in the same period in 2016.

However, the state sales are inconsistent. While the national figure is down, WA sales are up by one unit – or 14.3 per cent – to eight so far this year compared with the same period in 2016.

In the same seven months, rival Ferrari is up 5.6 per cent to 113 units and in WA, sales are unchanged on 10 units sold.

Lamborghini has also added a rear-drive version of the Huracan Spyder, now the cheapest of the brand’s convertibles at a starting price of $416,790.

Regarded as the most civilised Lamborghini ever made – and certainly very comfortable and easy to drive during a short test – the Huracan adds the convertible in rear drive to cut $54,010 off the all-wheel drive (AWD) version.

The latest Spyder gets a less powerful 426kW/540Nm engine (down 23kW/20Nm on the AWD) but weighs 33kg less and has a 0-100km/h time of 3.6 seconds, only 0.2 seconds slower than the AWD.

Fuel consumption gain for the lighter car is only 0.2 litres per 100 kilometres better than the AWD at 12.1 L/100km.

By Neil Dowling