Justin Bieber was arrested Thursday morning in Miami Beach on drag racing and DUI charges (plus a bonus resisting arrest count thrown in by police) after leaving a club and hitting the city streets in a yellow Lamborghini Spyder.
And while there’s still plenty we don’t know about the situation — new details are emerging by the minute — there’s lots of information available about that car, which Bieber more than likely rented from Miami-based luxury rental company Lou La Vie (in a now-deleted Instagram pic, he thanked them “for the whips.”)
Several photos on the Lou La Vie website appear to show the exact same Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Spyder Bieber was driving when Miami police pulled him (and several members of his entourage) over early Thursday morning, and the vehicle is also prominently featured in a video that showcases the company’s downtown Miami showroom.
An employee for Lou La Vie would not confirm that Bieber had rented the car from the company when contacted by MTV News, nor would she comment on how much the Lamborghini costs to rent, though another luxury rental company in Miami told us that renting the Spyder will run you $1195 per day, with a $5,000 deposit required in advance.
And just in case you couldn’t guess, the Spyder is expensive, with a retail price starting at $209,000 — though most come loaded at around $250,000 (no wonder Biebs was renting). It’s also plenty fast, capable of going 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of 198 MPH according to Lamborghini’s technical specs.
And while the Spyder certainly satisfies the need for speed, that’s not what makes it so attractive to celebs like Bieber, according to Jalopnik deputy editor Travis Okulski, who test drove the car last year for the site.
“It’s a gorgeous car, a head turner. It’s not necessarily made for racing,” he told MTV News. “People show off in Lamborghinis; they’re a status symbol. As opposed to similar cars, like a Ferrari F430 or a Porsche 911 Turbo, it’s not built with the intent of getting a top time on the track. It’s more joyful and hilarious to be in a Lamborghini.”
The Gallardo is one of two models Lamborghini manufactures (the other being the more-expensive Aventador), though production on the model ended late last year — the Gallardo’s replacement, the Huracán will make its debut at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show in March. The model is the most-popular in company history, nearly matching the total amount of all other Lamborghinis produced since the company was founded in 1963.
And that popularity is due to as much to its speed as it is the vehicle’s aesthetics.
“It’s really fast, it’s loud, it sounds great, it’s a ton of fun to drive,” Okulski said. “That’s probably why Justin was driving one, if I’m guessing.”
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