Lamborghini’s first EV is nearly ready — but are we?

“The prima is truly dangerous!” Rouven Mohr said arsenic we ducked into immoderate shadiness down Lamborghini’s booth astatine The Quail, a Monterey Car Week lawsuit filled with immoderate of the world’s astir deep-pocketed buyers. Just a fewer feet away, surrounded by a assemblage of hundreds, was the company’s just-unveiled Temerario ace sports car, emerald overgarment gleaming successful the California sun. Mohr, Lamborghini’s CTO since 2022, has an infectious grin breaking done the other furniture of sunscreen he’s conscionable applied. 

“It’s your baby, and past to spot it for the archetypal clip connected the stage, it’s ever special,” helium said.

The car’s improvement began 4 and a fractional years ago, kicking into precocious cogwheel 36 months agone up of its debut this past weekend. The Temerario replaces the decade-old Huracán, Lamborghini’s outgoing V10 ace sports car. Over the years, it has been upgraded galore times, gaining power, handling, and exertion on the way, but the caller Temerario makes it look remedial.

Though the Temerario steps down to a 4.0-liter V8, it adds a brace of turbochargers. That configuration sounds a spot similar the Audi-sourced motor wrong the company’s Urus SUV, but Mohr is adamant that this is unrelated. “It is wholly new,” helium said. “There is nothing, not immoderate portion to bash with the V8 of the Urus.”

Lamborghini developed this caller motor to bash 2 things: rev to 10,000rpm and dependable amazing.

The effect is simply a car with a chiseled spine-tingling shriek erstwhile driven hard. But the consciousness of the motor is besides unique. “When you thrust the car astatine the beginning, you thin to displacement up overmuch excessively aboriginal due to the fact that you person a batch of torque. But if you rev it up, to beryllium honest, you consciousness it’s a benignant of detonation due to the fact that the torque is inactive determination that successful a people aspirated 1 you don’t have,” Mohr said. 

Adding turbochargers mightiness adhd torque, but they don’t needfully summation the amusive factor. The motor relies connected turbos that Mohr called “huge.” Big turbos marque large powerfulness but often effect successful a lag betwixt putting your ft connected the accelerator and the guardant surge of the car. 

That’s wherever the hybrid strategy comes in. The Temerario has 3 axial flux electrical motors. A brace unrecorded connected the beforehand axle, 1 driving each beforehand wheel. The 3rd is straight connected to the crankshaft of the caller V8.

The full strategy output is 907 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque, up from 631 horsepower and 417 pound-feet successful the outgoing Huracán. The combined output of the hybrid strategy unsocial is 295 horsepower, oregon astir the aforesaid arsenic a single-motor Polestar 2. The Temerario accelerates from zero to 62mph successful 2.7 seconds, with a apical velocity of implicit 210mph.

On paper, it’s an architecture akin to Lamborghini’s different hybrid, the 1,001 horsepower Revuelto. In fact, Mohr said the dual-motor beforehand axle setup is precisely the aforesaid arsenic the Revuelto’s, arsenic is the 3.8kWh battery.

But the differing characteristics of the 2 cars mean little bundle sharing betwixt them than you mightiness think. “The basal strategy is the same, but the exertion is simply a wholly antithetic 1 due to the fact that the value organisation is different, the track, the wheelbase,” helium said.

Still, the Temerario shares galore of the Revuelto’s high-performance tricks, similar utilizing the hybrid strategy for traction control. 

Imagine accelerating excessively hard retired of a corner. In your overexuberance, the rear wheels commencement to spin. Rather than the traction power reducing powerfulness to support grip, arsenic connected a mean car, the Temerario volition summation regen connected that rear electrical motor. The centrifugal past converts that other powerfulness from the V8 into complaint for the artillery portion simultaneously keeping you from spinning into a ditch.

The Temerario looks superb sitting successful the prima astatine Lamborghini’s booth, but thing is missing this year: the all-electric Lanzador conception that debuted past year. It was a spot of an unusual thing, a gangly coupe with SUV-like proportions and an unconventional plan that was a throwback to the company’s earlier four-seat coupes similar the Espada of the ’60s oregon the Jarama of the ’70s.

Though it’s conscionable a concept, it was said to beryllium a preview of an eventual accumulation EV, and Mohr said its improvement is inactive actively underway. “On this, we are inactive full-throttle working,” helium said. 

The people for the merchandise of the Lanzador is sometime toward the extremity of the decade, but Mohr said that timeframe isn’t conscionable a question of engineering. “It depends a small spot besides connected the market,” helium said.

In different words, Lamborghini is waiting for the EV marketplace to stabilize. Mohr said that high depreciation rates connected premium EVs person merchandise planners scared. Residual values are cardinal for cars costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unlike your mean SUV, these highly uncommon cars often summation worth arsenic soon arsenic they rotation disconnected the dealership lot. Many owners virtually slope connected that. 

A Lamborghini EV that rapidly loses worth would beryllium unacceptable. “In immoderate regions of the world, the radical are a small spot frightened astir the residual values and each the things that are important for us,” Mohr said.

The Rolls-Royce Spectre volition beryllium a spot of a litmus trial for this caller epoch of ultra-premium EVs, helium noted, but it’s excessively aboriginal to cognize however that 1 volition fare successful the marketplace successful the agelong term.

Wealthy buyers inactive person a agelong mode to spell earlier the Lanzador has its existent infinitesimal successful the sun. Until then, they’ll person to beryllium sated with the Temerario, which should beryllium disposable sometime adjacent year. Lamborghini hasn’t acceptable a terms yet connected the car, but fixed the outgoing Huracán starts astatine astir $250,000, you tin beryllium definite the Temerario volition widen good into the $300,000 territory.

And what astir that name? Like galore Lamborghinis, it’s borrowed from a bull — a bull from 1975, successful fact. “We picked his sanction due to the fact that helium was precise brave,” Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann said astatine the car’s unveiling.

It’s not a sanction that easy rolls disconnected the tongue, adjacent for Mohr. “I americium besides not Italian speaking, truthful besides for me, it’s not truthful easy,” helium said with a laugh. “I was grooming astatine the opening successful beforehand of the mirror. Temerario. Temerario...”