Lamborghini says no to EVs

Lamborghini has ruled out an all-electric model in its near future, but will release two new V12-powered supercars this year.

Speaking at the Melbourne reveal of the new Lamborghini Huracan STO, the Italian exoticar-maker’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Franceso Scardaoni, said the Raging Bull brand and pure-electric powertrains were not compatible.

“We don’t see a pure-electric powertrain can fit 1:1 the DNA of Lamborghini in terms of driving emotion, handling and the requirements of our customers,” he said.

Scardaoni remained non-committal when pressed on the ultimate tipping-point for Lamborghini to produce an EV.

“Our immediate challenges are the automotive megatrends of electrification and hybridisation,” he said.

“We need to address legislation and the environment together with the expectations of our customers. Our challenge is to define how to transplant our supercars’ DNA into the age of electrification.

“We must keep our customers and fans dreaming by continuing to develop super-sports cars with a higher level of technological innovation and driving emotion in comparison to the ones of today, despite the CO2 constraints defined by legislations.

“The two key elements as drivers and challenges of our future decisions will be the car weight and the battery packaging, which could impact performances, driving emotions and the design of our cars.”

Lamborghini has already produced its first electrified model in the form of the mild-hybrid limited-edition Lamborghini Sian coupe (pictured) and roadster, which employ 48-volt supercapacitor technology to boost the output of its naturally-aspirated 6.5-litre V12 to a hefty 602kW.

The Raging Bull brand has also confirmed the successor to its flagship Lamborghini Aventador, which dates back to 2011, will be powered by a V12 with plug-in hybrid tech rather than the Sian’s supercapacitor system.

But it has stopped short of joining the trend towards full-EV sports cars like the Porsche Taycan. The German sports car-maker is also considering pure battery power for its next-generation Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman, but is yet to produce a hybrid – let alone all-electric – version of its iconic 911.

Like Porsche, which says low-CO2 synthetic fuel rather than electrification is the key to extending the 911’s life, Lamborghini remains committed to non-turbo engines – but admits it’s a tough task.

“Lamborghini is the last manufacturer to date to use a naturally-aspirated engine. You can imagine it’s not easy because the world is going toward stricter and stricter regulations in terms of emissions,” said Scardaoni.

“Lamborghini, with the Huracan V10, has been able to comply to the new regulation. Of course, we know that in the future countries will impose even more stricter regulations, so we need to be open and invest even more in new technologies.”

For now at least, it appears Lambo’s glorious normally-aspirated V10 and V12 engines will live on; indeed, Scardaoni confirmed two new V12-powered models will be launched in 2021.

“This year, the Huracan STO will be joined by two further new products, based on the iconic V12,” he said.

Exactly what those two models are remains unclear, but possibilities include a limited-edition STO version of the Aventador that’s even more hard-core than the million-dollar SVJ, or a mild-hybrid Aventador borrowing tech from the Sian.

Also coming from Lamborghini is the facelifted ‘Evo’ version of the Urus SUV, a plug-in hybrid powertrain for which is also expected.

“The focus of course now is the Urus and completing the Urus project which is still ongoing – because we have many surprises,” Scardaoni teased.

Launched in Australia with a 478kW/850Nm twin-turbo V8 in 2018, the Urus quickly became Lamborghini’s top-seller here – at least until 2020 when local sales dropped by 37 per cent following a COVID-enforced 70-day halt in production.

This was followed by record production numbers for Lamborghini in the second half of 2020, when the 10,000th Urus was sold worldwide.

Indeed, Lamborghini achieved pandemic-defying global sales figures in 2020, delivering 7430 vehicles – just nine per cent down on the previous year following six consecutive years of sales growth.

“We can see that in the luxury automotive segment … the trend was quite different compared to other segments,” said Scardaoni.

“Meaning that also during this pandemic the luxury segment increased so there was an overall, let’s say, luxury economy rebound that allowed luxury brands to live a particular moment during this pandemic.

“Many markets, despite the pandemic, had an amazing order collection that it is vital for a luxury brand like us to have a positive outlook on the next years.

“We closed 2020 with a solid order portfolio on both Urus and super-sport cars that is allowing us to have an amazing quarter one and growing trend for the years to come.

“In 2020, the Oceania market has been only affected by the stop of production due to COVID-19 of our production plant. Furthermore, the delay has been amplified by the transportation time to Australia.

“Also in Oceania the order collection is good despite the COVID-19 situation and all the orders collected will be delivered to our customers in 2021-2022.”