Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann says the electrified V12 of its new Revuelto is what his customers wanted and is here to stay, at least until the brand’s next flagship emerges in a decade or so.
“It’s traditional for Lamborghini to have the top of the range with a V12. We wanted to maintain this and the feedback we got from our customers and the combination of the hybridisation is allowing us to stick with this type of engine, but for sure it’s a matter of acceptance and economics,” said Mr Winkelmann.
The ground-up-designed Revuelto uses a V12 engine, in classic Lamborghini fashion, but it’s also a plug-in hybrid that can run purely on electric power only – even in four-wheel drive.
Lamborghini might be late to the party when it comes to fully-electric versions of its super sports cars and SUVs, but that’s coming too, says Mr Winkelmann.
“The first step is to hybridise the entire line-up commencing with Revuelto, followed up next year with the hybridisation of the Urus,” he told CarExpert.
“Then we’ll have a completely new Huracan coming, and this will also be a hybridised car.
“Then in the second part of the decade we’re going to introduce a fourth model which we think will be a 2-plus-2 [electric] car that’s missing in the Lamborghini line-up.
“That’s because the 350 GT in the 60s was part of our heritage, so this will be the right time to enter with this type of electrification.
“After that, it will be a fully-electric Urus. For the two super sports cars we have a bit more time and we can decide what we do in the 2030s.”
The new plug-in hybrid Lamborghini Revuelto, designed under Mitja Borkert, is the most potent street-legal masterpiece ever built by the luxury Italian carmaker with headquarters in the tiny rural village of Sant’Agata Bolognese.
Since the very inception of this iconic Italian supercar manufacturer founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, a naturally aspirated V12 has always been at the heart of its flagship model.
It kicked off with the 350 GT and went on to power the world’s first supercar, the peerless Lamborghini Miura.
It followed up with the Countach that looked like a spaceship in its day (still does). Then came the Diablo, Murcielago and most recently, the Aventador – all with V12 engines and the stirring sound that comes with them.
