We’re all about to be in a world where every new Lamborghini is electrified. Not too far in the future is the day when they cease to house combustion engines too. Here’s how CEO Stephan Winkelmann thinks the house of the raging bull will keep its edge.
It’s been more than three years since Lamborghini introduced the world to its very first hybrid, the Sian FKP 37. Since then it’s continued to tinker with hybridized concepts. In March of 2023, it’ll introduce the hybrid successor to the now-out-of-production Aventador.
By the end of 2024, the entire lineup will feature electrification, and by the end of the decade we’ll know what a fully electric Lamborghini looks, drives and sounds like. Those are all major pieces of the puzzle according to CEO Stephan Winkelmann. Speaking to Autocar, he laid out the four main pillars for the brand as it makes the shift.
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“There are four pillars in my head. Design and performance, these are things that we have always done. The other two? It is the perceived performance. So how you feel, how engaged you are. Like a pilot.
The other one is the sound. These are the things that are the most challenging, so the sound is something where we have to see what is coming up. I don’t want to say it’s easy – it will be different from today.”
As Winkelmann points out, design and performance are right up Lamborghini’s alley so to speak. The brand knows how to deliver wild performance and styling. Delivering ‘perceived performance’ is a bit of an anomalous idea though and one that in the past could lean heavily on a big internal combustion engine.
Winkelmann says that the team is already in the development stages though. “We are already working on perceived performance. I think that the software is going to take major steps to help us improve lateral acceleration and the direction of the contact between machine and driver. These things are paramount for success,” he said.
To be clear, when he talks about ‘lateral acceleration’, he’s speaking about handling speed. That experience is indeed an exhilarating one. But will the ‘dust is gold’ crowd continue to be a big part of Lamborghini’s demographic when they can’t get attention by revving a big engine? We can’t wait to find out.
