Lamborghini EVs will sound like spaceships

Lamborghini has revealed that its foray into pure electric vehicles will not be accompanied by fake engine sounds or the noise of synthesised combustion, with the company instead choosing to generate a unique otherworldly soundtrack all of its own.

The news follows a number of manufacturers introducing battery-electric models that deliberately try to sound like petrol engines and even multi-speed gearboxes, but the iconic Italian supercar maker says this simply won’t do for its zero-emission machines.

Speaking at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, Lamborghini APAC director Francesco Scardaoni said the only thing that sounds like a V12 is a V12 and that something not of this world was a better fit for its EVs.

“Stepping into an electric car, we don't think that replicating or faking an engine sound on a pure electric car is the way, so we think that in the future electric product Lamborghini, a more futuristic, spaceship-oriented sound can be a way,” he said.

Exactly what that extraterrestrial noise will sound like is yet to be heard, but Scardaoni said the production vehicle that evolves from the Lamborghini Lanzador concept (pictured) will be the first to debut the noise in about 2028.

Either way, it will honour Lamborghini’s mantra of driving dynamics, design and emotion, said Scardaoni.

“Sound is part of our DNA, is part of the emotion… a super electric car has to be fully recognised in terms of design. We have to make sure that if I blindfold you, you sit in a Lanzador or what would be the next electric car, you recognise that you are in a Lamborghini terms of emotion, driving dynamics and so on.”

Lamborghini has been embracing the necessity to go electric since its Asterion PHEV concept of 2014, but the recent reveal of a revised company identity, it says, is a tangible part of the raging bull brand’s evolutionary move into sustainability.

It’s the first revision of the iconic emblem since 1998 and all future models that wear the new modernised badge will be electrified in some form.

In any conversation about electrification, Lamborghini makes a point of highlighting that the noise of genuine combustion has a future with the company for now, with hybridisation allowing V12s and perhaps other engines to continue on as part of the company’s fabric.

Case in point is the extraordinary Revuelto hypercar, which succeeds the Aventador with a high-performance hybrid drivetrain based around a naturally-aspirated V12.

And while Scardaoni would not reveal any details, it’s highly likely the same approach will prolong the use of a V10 in the upcoming Huracan replacement.

“We cannot disclose which kind of powertrain we’re going to use on the next Huracan. We can only say that it will be hybrid,” he said. “But you don’t have to wait so long because in August we will officially launch the new Huracan in Pebble Beach.”

While some brands have raced to be first to market with electrified high-performance models, Lamborghini has been patiently biding its time.

This has been a deliberate approach, according to Scardaoni, because such a highly recognised performance brand like Lamborghini cannot afford to damage its reputation with a rushed model.

“The reason why we designed the Cor Tauri strategy to have a hybrid is because we wanted to make sure that the first electric product will be the right one,” he said.

“We didn’t want to be the first one, but we want to be the best one in introducing what our customers want.

“And for now, the feedback is that they want to drive internal combustion engine with hybrid powertrain because we still have a special supersport car.”

Lamborghini’s Direzione Cor Tauri announced in 2021 laid out a roadmap that would see all new Lamborghinis hybridised by the end of 2024, and the first fully electric model by the second half of the decade.

What an electric car should sound like has polarised car manufacturers in recent years, with some creating augmented engine noise such as Hyundai and Fiat/Abarth, while BMW and Porsche for example have gone with their own unique soundtracks. What the right direction is will be decided by demand.

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