Lamborghini boost wanted

Lamborghini is looking for a 30 per cent sales boost in Australia in 2019 as it readies its Huracan Evo for action.

The new V10 hotrod is not arriving until the second half of the year, which means the majority of the extra sales will come from the Urus SUV, but the Italian company is still confident as the Evo replaces the original Huracan.

The newcomer is priced from $459,000 and is trumpeted with 477kW and 600Nm of torque, a top speed of 325km/h and a 0-100km/h sprint in 2.9sec.

But the biggest differences, despite a body and engine that are much the same, are a seven-fold increase in downforce, rear-wheel steering, and a touchscreen set low in the centre console.

An Evo Spider is also coming in 2019, but not until the very end of the year.

The sales objective for this year was outlined by Andrea Ruggiero, the Oceania manager for Automobili Lamborghini. (Pictured above with Augusto Favrin - General Manager Melbourne)

“Last year the total for Australia was 150. We were around 20 cars for Urus, but the first delivery was only the start of October. For this year, for total Lamborghini, 200. About 50 for Urus, maybe a few more,” Ruggiero told carsales during this week’s Evo preview in Melbourne.

“You will start to see Evo in August-September. At the moment we are starting to collect the orders. Spider? We hope to have something by the end of the year, but really the last part of the year.”

“Now we are ending up with the current Huracan. And the last batch will only be Performante Spider”.

The Huracan Evo has already been unveiled in Europe and left-hand drive cars will be built first, yet Ruggiero is still keen to talk about the advanced new aero work that picks up from the active systems on the Huracan Performante.

In the Evo it’s passive aero, but with new shapes and slots there is a claimed six-time improvement in aerodynamic efficiency, a 16 per cent improvement in cooling and the seven-time boost (claimed but not backed by numbers) in downforce.

The aero bits are a new front lip, new diffuser and rear wing and also new rockers.

“It is force over function,” Ruggiero says.

The rear-wheel steering is almost identical to the flagship Aventador, counter-steering for parking with same-way steering for high-speed stability, and Ruggiero says it has barely added any weight to a car which tips the scale at a similar number to the predecessor. The Spider will only be 100kg heavier.

There is more freedom in the programming for the suspension and all-wheel drive, giving average drivers a bigger safety net and allowing drivers with talent some extra leeway for fun. It’s about providing the feeling of sliding for ordinary punters and real sliding for aces, according to Ruggiero.

Digging deeper into Lamborghini, Ruggiero confirms a long-term sales cap at 8000 cars, no plan for a smaller SUV than the Urus and a “Never” vote on a fully-electric Lamborghini of any type.

“We are not targeting to have a volume of more than 8000 cars. Any evolution of the SUV is against this master strategy.

“Nobody is asking for a fully-electric Lamborghini. We want to keep the sound of the car. Our customers still enjoy the sound of the engine,” he said.

But the next-generation Aventador will lead Lamborghini into hybrids, sometime after 2020, and “we will never give up on the V12.”

Ruggiero says Lamborghini has been flooded by requests after starting its Ad Personam program for customisation, with more than 70 per cent of Aventador owners making personal requests and around 55 per cent of Huracan buyers also looking for something special, although not as extreme.

He also reports a “massive” surge in female interest in Lamborghini now the Urus is on the road.

“It’s definitely already been an opportunity. There is a lot more traffic. New people who were never entering into the showroom.

“A lot of professionals, and female. We are running now at around 70 per cent of the [Urus] people are new,” he stated.