The Lamborghini Huracán’s successor, due in 2022, will use a radical hybrid powertrain, featuring “next-generation” battery technology to minimise weight and give it the ability to run in electric-only mode.
The Italian supercar maker, which is well known for its reluctance to move away from naturally aspirated engines, has already confirmed a hybrid powertrain will be launched in its new SUV, the Urus.
Opinion: Lamborghini has to embrace hybrid tech
The latter will be revealed in December, but no technical details or performance figures have been released yet.
The next Aventador, due before the second-generation Huracán, will retain its naturally aspirated V12 engine, so the Huracán’s successor will be the first Lamborghini sports car to be an advanced plug-in hybrid. Talking to Autocar, Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali said: “The [next] Huracán – that car will need hybridisation. Hybridisation is the answer, not [full] electric.”
Referring to its current engines, Domenicali said: “There is still a lot of potential for the V12. The right approach for us is to have the V10 and V12 to suit our customers and then be ready to switch [to a hybrid] at the right moment.”
Commercial boss Federico Foschini told Autocar earlier this year that there is currently little demand for hybridisation from its customers. “When they come to Lamborghini, they are asking for the power and performance of our naturally aspirated engines,” he said. “That’s why we have already decided that the next-generation V12 will stay naturally aspirated and it is one reason why the [Aventador] remains unique.”
Although these engines remain in the mid-term plan, Lamborghini is already heavily investing in the research and development of future powertrain technology for 2022 and beyond.
Last year, it announced a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a project that “intends to write an important page in the future of super-sports cars for the third millennium”. That project is likely to focus on lightweight composite materials, as well as alternative energy and battery storage techniques.
Research and development boss Maurizio Reggiani told Autocar last month that the key issues currently preventing the brand from integrating hybrid technology were focused around driving range, but he hoped to have a solution for a super-sports car within “four to five years”.
Join the debate
Add your comment
i want it all?
well my issues are that i want a sportscar as the next lamborghini huracan to be < 2000 lbs and have all kind of technology at the same time. "my question are" will we make it darling?
cheers!
RIP Lamborghini
RIP Lamborghini
Hybrids are misjudged
I think hybrids are being condemned on the basis of what we have seen so far - after just 20 years development mainly by the Japanese.
A fully optimised mild hybrid (with little or no weight penalty as demonstrated by the original Honda Insight) could provide excellent all round performance and efficiency allied with the noise and feel of a normal combustion engine. And in 2017, it's almost criminal to be relying on crude, 100% wasteful friction brakes as the sole means of slowing cars down.
Lamborghini is definitely on the right track, though it has plenty of work to do to optimise the petrol electric package and convince diehards of the benefit.