Lamborghini’s potential new electric GT illustrated for CAR magazine by Andrei Avarvarii
► Lambo’s electric and hybrid plans explained► Aventador replacement to be a PHEV
► And a pure-electric GT is on the cards
Lamborghini has a new chief technical officer: Rouven Mohr. His in-tray has one Post-it on top of the welcome pack and health and safety handbook: ‘Take Lamborghini into the electric age,’ it says.
The man tasking him with this immense high-pressure challenge is Lamborghini chief executive Stephan Winkelmann, who says electrification is essential: ‘There’s a new generation of customers which would not otherwise sit at your table any more.’
So, Lamborghini is charging ahead with electrifying its range as part of its Cor Tauri grand plan to invest €1.5bn into electrification. Mohr – an engineer who has been at Audi since 2008, with a two-year stint at Lamborghini – doesn’t need to worry about 2022, which will see two Huracan and two Urus launches. Equally well mapped out is 2023-2024, when new hybrids arrive. But then, in the second half of the decade, Mohr’s debut will be Lamborghini’s first full electric car.
What comes first from Lamborghini?
‘We are almost sold out for the entire year of 2022,’ says Winkelmann. ‘And 2022 will be the last year when we are launching internal-combustion-engined cars only. There will be two derivatives from the Huracan coming up. And there will be a facelift that will be split into two for the Urus. So there will be four new products that we present this year.’
Those new Huracan derivatives are to be the off-road biased Sterrato and an as-yet-unnamed additional variant. Sources suggest the second Huracan variant to be revealed this year could be a 911 GT3 Touring-like stealth variant of the Huracan STO, possibly named JV Stradale.
The plug-in Aventador
After years of speculation, Winkelmann confirmed to CAR in January 2022 that the replacement for the Aventador will be a plug-in hybrid with a V12 engine. Our spy photographers caught a glimpse of a development mule of the new car pictured below.
‘In 2023 we will have the follow-up for the Aventador, which will be the first plug-in hybrid, with a complete new V12 engine,’ he says, ‘and then in ’24 we will have the Urus and the Huracan follow-on as well, plug-in hybrid cars. This will close the first step of our strategy, which will cut CO2 emissions by 2025 compared to today by at least 50 per cent.
‘It’s three different engines: Urus has the V8, the Aventador will have a V12, for the Huracan we are not yet disclosing what type of engine it’s going to be, but it’s a completely new engine, nothing in common with the Urus or Aventador engine.
‘With hybridisation it’s important that you combine the two things and you do it right. It’s about cutting emissions for sure, but you have to ensure the performance is better. You have to keep the sound of the engine, a powerful engine, delivering the performance you need.’
CAR’s intel suggests that the electrified Huracan replacement will also have a V8. But why is Winkelmann saying the powertrain will be different to the Urus? Because our sources point to an engine Lamborghini has developed itself (i.e. not a derivative of an existing Audi or Porsche engine), redlining at 10,000rpm and fully prepared to run on synthetic fuel. Coupled with electric assistance, total system power is expected to come in at around 850bhp.
What about a fully-electric Lamborghini?
Winkelmann says that, regardless of legislation, there’s a new generation that wants and expects a more electrified range. Lamborghini’s response involves a two-pronged line-up: supersports hybrids that will have the traditional look and feel that appeals to petrolheads; and for a broader audience, the Urus hybrid and new ‘fourth’ model, an electric grand tourer first announced during the Cor Tauri conference.
Winkelmann says he and his team are driving a lot of electric rivals as they prepare for the first Lamborghini EV. ‘The power unit is one thing but the set-up, the driving experience, brakes, suspension, power-to-weight ratio is going to be even more important in my opinion than today.
‘These things are going to be accepted by most of our customers.’ Many fears about EVs would, he predicted, ‘dissolve into nothing’, much as anxieties about introducing different types of transmission were soon forgotten.
‘People are moving. It’s not about what they think today, it’s about what they say when the things are going to be ready. This in my opinion is paramount for the success of a company like ours.’
The Lamborghini EV does not currently exist. ‘We are still in the strategy planning, we are still in the phase where we are putting together all the numbers. We are looking into volumes, we are looking into geographical distributions, we are looking into the financials, all these things, but we have a pretty good idea where this is going to end. I’m pretty convinced that we will find a good solution, a good way to do it.
‘The team as a whole – we are here 2000 people – has embraced it and really see that this is a big opportunity for the future growth of this company.’
Mohr is, says Winkelmann, ‘very enthusiastic’ about Lamborghini. ‘He’s very committed to the future. He knows what needs to be done. He’s a young engineer with a lot of power. I wish him all the best. We will test him – there’s a lot to do.’
Although he’s ex-Audi, that doesn’t mean the electric Lamborghini will be a rebadged e-Tron. ‘We have such a technological advantage in the Group compared to our competitiors that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It’s important that we find the right balance between make or buy, but this is always the case. We have to define what is very much Lamborghini-like. I’ve found in him somebody who has his own mind. Everybody at Lamborghini knows the value of the Volkswagen brand, but everybody of us also knows the value of the Lamborghini brand.’
Keyword: Lamborghini electric plans: PHEV Aventador confirmed by boss, new e-GT in the pipeline