Derived from the overachieving Aventador, the arrow-shaped Veneno pushes the performance envelope even further. The car makes use of the Aventador’s mid-mounted 6.5-litre V12, bumped from 700hp to 739hp, and drives all four wheels through a 7-speed automated manual gearbox. Its chassis, featuring an inboard pushrod suspension bolted to a carbon fibre monocoque structure, is pure prototype racer, but Lamborghini is proud to note that the Veneno meets all worldwide road-car safety and registration requirements. Top speed is a breezy 220mph. (For those keeping track, the Aventador is good for 217mph.)

The Veneno is a sequel of sorts to the Gallardo-derived, and similarly futuristic, Sesto Elemento show car from 2010. But whereas Lamborghini said it would craft 20 examples of the Sesto Elemento, the automaker plans to build just three Venenos during 2013, priced at a cool 3 million euros each (at writing, about $4.1 million, plus tax). And before you get your hopes up, the company has already found buyers for its triplets, save the one on the Geneva motor show stand – chassis number 0, whose future, to quote Lamborghini, has not been determined yet.

As for the name, Veneno, according to the company, was the name of a particularly bad-tempered and fearsomely fast Spanish fighting bull who gained notoriety in 1914 for goring bullfighter José Sánchez Rodríguez to death. A vicious pedigree for a vicious machine.