Italian supercar maker Lamborghini has been reticent about going into all-electric vehicles, but it’s now finally breaking from its stance and has announced an upcoming all-electric car in the second half of the decade. For a long time, Lamborghini has dismissed the idea of battery-electric vehicles being an option for high-performance cars.
In 2018, Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer Maurizio Reggiani said about the brand making electric vehicles:
Our target is to deliver a super sports car, and these specifications don’t exist with a battery package in terms of energy and power.
Now after several other electric supercars such as VW ID.R, the Tesla Roadster, and more, they can’t deny that battery packs can deliver the performance expected in a Lamborghini car, but today, the automaker announced its roadmap for electrification.
While it’s still mostly about hybrid powertrains, Lamborghini did confirm that it will have an all-electric car in the second half of the decade:
First fully-electric Lamborghini (second half of the decade): acceleration in the second part of the decade will be dedicated to full-electric vehicles, with the vision of a fourth model in the future. Once again, technological innovation in this phase will be oriented towards ensuring remarkable performance and positioning the new product at the top of its segment. This is how Lamborghini sees the culmination of this part of its journey: Cor Tauri, the brightest star in the constellation to which the company’s roadmap points, is represented by a fourth fully-electric model.
Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann commented on the upcoming vehicle [via Autocar]:
This will be at least a 2+2 or four-seater. We imagine a two-door car mainly at this moment, but we haven’t yet taken a final decision on the body style or the power output.
It said the next 10 years will see the company transition to producing hybrid models before it launches a fully-electric car in the latter half of the 2020s.
“Lamborghini’s electrification plan is a newly-plotted course, necessary in the context of a radically changing world, where we want to make our contribution by continuing to reduce environmental impact through concrete projects,” Automobili Lamborghini’s President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our response is a plan with a 360-degree approach, encompassing our products and our Sant’Agata Bolognese location, taking us towards a more sustainable future while always remaining faithful to our DNA.”
Lamborghini’s roadmap comprises of three phases; the first of which, for 2021 and 2022, sees the company remain focused on combustion engine models with two new cars in the V12 model line-up to be announced this year.
The executive said that development work has started. This is late. Actually, I think this is very late, but Lamborghini has a few things going for it. As part of the Volkswagen Group, the Italian brand can benefit from the progress that the other Volkswagen brands have already made when it comes to electric vehicles.
Porsche and Audi’s PPE performance electric platform is expected to be a big help for Lamborghini. I think this could save them because otherwise, if they are just now starting development on all-electric vehicles in 2021, they would be doomed.
