Lamborghini backs next-gen V12

While other performance car brands abandon the V12 and natural-aspiration, Lamborghini is planning to continue with both, beyond the current generation Aventador supercar.

But it has to convince its parent Audi and the Volkswagen Group it’s the right way to go.

And the thumbs up - or down - hasn’t been given yet.

“We are presenting our proposal,” Automobili Lamborghini Asia-Pacific CEO Matteo Ortenzi told carsales.com.au.

“There is a moment in which there is the decision, we are still not there. But we know what we want to do.

“We are planning, even if it is still not decided, to have a V12 naturally aspirated also in the following cars [beyond Aventador].”

The Aventador is slated to have a life out to at least 2022 and maybe longer, but Ortenzi says proof Lamborghini’s intentions can be seen in the limited edition Sian supercar unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show last month.

That car is powered by a naturally-aspirated V12 engine hybridised with the aid of supercapacitors rather than batteries.

“What we know is we want to go on with the V12 and I think that today Sian is the manifesto because we demonstrated with the V12 you can do modern things,” said Ortenzi.

“For sure you have to do things in a different way, but we always did it. From us you have to expect the unexpected and this is what we did.

“Everyone is going V8 turbo and hybrid. We did a car that is V12 naturally aspirated with hybridisation. And it’s working, it’s a pretty good car, so it can survive the V12 and this is what we would like to do.”

Ortenzi forecast the Sian would be followed within two-to-three years by another sportscar hybrid that would be more widely available to customers.

He said hybridisation was necessary because of tightening CO2 limits.

“If you go on just like this with naturally aspirated engine on the sports car and V8 turbo on the Urus in two or three years we will be not compliant in some markets, so for sure we do something. Hybridisation is the first step.”

However, as Lamborghini technical chief Maurizio Reggiani told carsales at Frankfurt, super-capacitors are unlikely to be part of the package.

“We have the first hybrid in production is Sian and then it will cascade down into other models,” added Ortenzi.

“It will be most likely hybrid, but maybe in a different form (to super-capacitors). At the moment what we declare is the next sports car will be hybrid.”

Ortenzi argues that the combination of natural-aspiration and hybridisation made as much sense as combining turbocharging and hybrid assistance.

“If you think about the function of the turbo engine and what you are adding with the boost of the electric, sometimes it (turbo) is redundant,” he said.

“You are adding weight with the turbo, coolers for the turbo, that are also doing in some phases of the driving the same function the electric boost can do.

“So it might be now you can have a clever solution with naturally aspirated and hybrid.”

But Ortenzi made it clear Lamborghini had no interest in a pure electric vehicle any time soon.

“We don’t see the possibility to have a full electric car in the short to mid-term,” he said.