As a kid, I had a poster of a Lamborghini Countach on my wall. That was one sexy beast. Life moves on, priorities change, and when I had the disposable income for an “extravagant” new car, I bought a Tesla Model 3 Performance. It may not have the sleek lines or that satisfying guttural rumble of a Lamborghini, but the Tesla blows away the acceleration numbers of that sexy super sports car of yesteryear. Electric motors offer more than just lower emissions: they also offer incredible torque, which translates to off-the-line acceleration that’s difficult for any internal combustion engine to match.
Rather than dismissing the advantages of electrification, Automobili Lamborghini is embracing it. Today the company unveiled its vision for the future and it includes gas/electric hybrid models in the near future as well as a 100% electric super sports car. Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, announced the company’s new strategy for environmental sustainability, nicknamed: “Direzione Cor Tauri,” from the Latin for “heart of the bull.” The company has stated that they plan to move toward an electrified future, while “remaining faithful to the heart and soul of the brand.”
Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, poses with a few of the company’s current models. Photo courtesy of Automobili Lamborghini.
Automobili Lamborghini, now a division of Volkswagen (under the auspices of the Audi brand) celebrated record profits in 2020, despite a global pandemic. The parent brand suffered a few years back from its “Diesel-gate” scandal and has been on a mission to turn its brands around through electrification and ecological awareness. Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata supercar factory was one of the first automobile factories certified as carbon-neutral in 2015, utilizing an extensive solar array as well as efficient heating and cooling systems. And while the company has shown hybrid vehicle prototypes as far back as 2014, its first hybrid offering, the Sián FKP 37, is just now going into a limited production run of 63 units. But this won’t be the end of Lamborghini’s electric story: it’s just the beginning.
May 18, 2021 – Automobili Lamborghini is planning to release gas/electric hybrid super sports cars in 2023-2024 and a fully electric model by the end of this decade.
The first step toward electrification will be the complete transition to hybrid drive trains, adding the instant torque benefits of an electric motor to the cars’ high performance combustion engines. The company plans to add electrification to all of its current models by the end of 2024. The environmental goal for this stage is to reduce the cars’ CO2 emissions by 50% by the beginning of 2025. The company plans to invest over 1.5 billion Euros (about $1.83B) over four years in order to make these plans a reality. The first fully electric Lamborghini is said to be coming before the end of this decade.
The Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 combines a 48-volt electric motor with a V-12 combustion engine for a combined 807 HP of hybrid power.
The announcement comes just as Italy is enjoying a surge in sales of hybrid and electric vehicles.
More details on Lamborghini’s plans for electrification are available on the Lamborghini web site.
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
