For perhaps the first time in the high-performance brand's 58-year history, Lamborghini is effectively saying not so fast — at least when it comes to joining the full-electric vehicle wave.
The charging bull, part of Volkswagen Group, on Tuesday said it will spend €1.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) over four years to hybridize its lineup of supercars beginning in 2023, and won't offer a full-electric vehicle until "the second half of the decade." Until then, Lamborghini will take at least one more victory lap, saying it will spend this year and next "celebrating the combustion engine" with at least two new variants equipped with V-12 engines.
The electrification plan — dubbed Cor Tauri, after the brightest star in the Taurus constellation — will be guided by what the brand says will be a continuing focus on "identifying technologies and solutions that guarantee top performance in driving dynamics" to remain true to the brand's heritage.
"Lamborghini's electrification plan is a newly plotted course, necessary in the process of a radically changing world, where we want to make our contribution by continuing to reduce environmental impact through concrete projects," Stephan Winkelmann, CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, said in a written statement. "Lamborghini has always been synonymous with preeminent technological expertise in building engines boasting extraordinary performance: This commitment will continue as an absolute priority of our innovation trajectory."
The Cor Tauri investment plan is the largest in the brand's history, Winkelmann said, and reinforces its commitment to its home in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. Lamborghini will begin its transition to hybrids in 2023, including the Sián FKP 37, an 807-hp limited-edition hybridized supercar that Lamborghini first showed at the Frankfurt auto show in 2019, and which pays homage to the Countach. The Sián has a top speed of 218 mph — or 350 km/h — and is equipped with a 774-hp, 6.5-litre V-12 engine augmented by a 34-hp electric motor.
Lamborghini says its entire lineup will be hybridized by the end of 2024, including its top-selling Urus SUV, with an internal target to reduce CO2 emissions from its products by half by 2025.
A full battery-electric vehicle, which hasn't yet been revealed, won't join the lineup — currently the Adventador, Huracan and Urus — until at least 2025.
