In times gone by, you could count on Lamborghini to put performance first in its list of priorities, but the Italian marque now considers handling and dynamics the key metric for its new cars.
During a recent media drive of the Huracan STO, Lamborghini Asia Pacific boss Francesco Scardaoni said that with the arrival of electrified vehicles, acceleration is no longer as important as it once was.
“If you go back to 10 years ago, probably when we were asked the parameters to measure a car with we would say top speed, acceleration and [then] handling,” Scardaoni told Car Advice. “Then top speed became a secondary measure, acceleration the first one. Now basically [with electrification] acceleration is no more that important [sic]. Because it’s quite easy for those kind of power units to have amazing results in acceleration.”
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In recent years, Lamborghini has shifted its focus to on-track performance, especially with hardcore models like the Aventador SVJ and Huracan STO that have similar acceleration and top speed figures to lesser variants but are much quicker around racetracks.
“What is really now making the difference is the drivability of the car, the handling,” Scardaoni said. “Because when you have good acceleration but the car is heavy to steer, heavy to handle, you cannot have that pleasure of driving in a really fast way. For sure now, handling in our opinion, is one of the top priorities for a manufacturer, especially a manufacturer like Lamborghini. And for Lamborghini handling is crucial, a key parameter – handling is top number one priority.”
