Lamborghini on Wednesday unveiled what can be its final V12-powered supercar pushed purely on gasoline. Whereas there can be extra V12 Lamborghini fashions sooner or later, they are going to be plug-in hybrids, the Italian supercar producer stated.
Lamborghini, which has constructed supercars with huge 12-cylinder engines for nearly 60 years, is certainly one of several supercar makers, together with Ferrari and McLaren, which can be creating plug-in hybrid sports activities automobiles or fully-electric fashions to satisfy more and more stringent carbon emission laws.
On Tuesday, Lotus, the British maker of extra inexpensive exotic-looking sports activities automobiles, additionally unveiled its final gasoline-powered automotive, the Emira. After this, all future Lotus fashions can be purely electrical, the corporate has stated. Lotus is owned by China’s Geely, which additionally owns Volvo, another automaker with plans to go all-electric.
Lamborghini’s final purely gas-powered supercar
The brand new Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae is the most recent of a collection of 12-cylinder Lamborghini supercars stretching all how again to the 1966 Miura, which is usually thought to be the primary fashionable supercar. That was adopted by the Countach, which grew to become the prototypical Lamborghini supercar. Its wedge-shaped physique has been copied by each Lamborghini sports activities automotive since, together with the corporate’s flagship Aventador.
The Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae combines the overall exterior styling of the Aventador S with the mechanical engineering of the extra excessive Aventador SVJ. This new mannequin has extra energy than both one, although. The Ultimae’s V12 engine produces as much as 769 horsepower, 10 greater than the SVJ and 39 greater than Aventador S.
Because the model’s final non-hybrid V12, the Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 can be extremely collectible, stated Lamborghini’s CEO.
Like different present Aventador fashions, the all-wheel-drive Ultimae has four-wheel steering, which permits it to show tighter corners and make smoother lane modifications in freeway driving. The entrance bumper has been redesigned to supply extra aerodynamic downforce on the automotive’s entrance wheels for higher dealing. Solely 350 coupe and 250 convertible variations of the Ultimae can be constructed. Costs for the coupe model will begin at about $500,000 and for the convertible at just below $550,000.
Lamborghini’s different sports activities automotive mannequin, the V10-powered Huracán, will proceed as a gasoline-only mannequin till 2024, Lamborghini chief govt Stephan Winkelmann stated.
The automotive that in the end replaces the Aventador will nonetheless have a V12 engine, Winkelman stated. However, it is going to be assisted by electrical motors and batteries that may be plugged in to cost. Lamborghini has beforehand introduced that, by the top of 2024, each Lamborghini model will be a plug-in hybrid. These automobiles will mix highly effective batteries and electric motors with an inside combustion engine to supply the facility, mild weight, and engine sound supercar patrons demand, Winkelmann stated.
Lamborghini will later provide a completely electrical four-seat automotive and, after that, Lamborghini’s substitute for the Urus SUV can even be absolutely electrical, he stated. The corporate has not stated when it’d provide a completely electrical two-seat sports activities automobiles.
Lotus’ absolutely electrical future
When Lotus’s final gasoline-powered mannequin, the Emira, enters manufacturing subsequent spring it is going to be powered by the identical Toyota V6 engine that has been utilized in different Lotus automobiles, just like the Exige and Evora.
The Lotus Emira is meant as a design showpiece for the model. “It is a kind of automobile you’ll want to look again at while you stroll away from it,” managing director Matt Windle stated.
Many months later it can even be produced with a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine made by AMG, the efficiency division of Mercedes-Benz. The AMG engine, the primary for use in a Lotus automotive, can be provided with a brand new twin-clutch automated transmission just like the ones utilized in racing automobiles. Twin-clutch transmissions can present quicker shifts and an extra direct-feeing connection between the engine and the wheels than a strange automated transmission.
The engines will produce between 360- and 400-horsepower, however, Lotus wouldn’t specify which engine is extra highly effective. Moreover the Toyota engine, and the handbook and automated transmissions that may go along with it, the Emira is, in any other case, an all-new automotive, stated Matt Windle, managing director of Lotus Vehicles. Costs for the Emira will begin at £60,000 in Britain, together with taxes, a quantity equal to about $82,000.Lotus’s subsequent automotive after this would be the Evlja, a 1,900-horsepower fully electric supercar that may price $2 million. With its huge worth and energy, the Evija is way outdoors of Lotus’s ordinary market area. Lotus plans to comply with it, although, with extra inexpensive electrical sports activities automobiles, and, for the primary time within the model’s historical past, sensible fashions like crossover SUVs.
Windle acknowledged that making electrical sports activities automobiles is a problem due to conflicting buyer necessities for each driving vary and excessive efficiency.
“The factor with sports activities automobiles is individuals need them to go a great distance, however additionally they need them to go very quick, in a short time,” he stated.
Windle had beforehand left Lotus to work with Tesla to develop the Tesla Roadster, which was based mostly on a Lotus chassis. He rejoined the British automaker in 2017.
He is assured that folks will benefit from the efficiency electrical automobiles can provide as soon as they really feel the moment response from electrical motors.
“No person ever stated, ‘If it solely had an exhaust,” he stated.