Opinion: Lamborghini has to embrace hybrid tech

October 31, 2017

Lamborghini Huracan successor will receive hybrid-tech in 2022

With naturally aspirated engines leaving the V10 platform for good, hybrid tech is the next step

Lamborghini has no alternative but to put some kind of hybrid powertrain into the Huracán replacement if it wants to bring down its fleet CO2 emissions.

The firm makes twice as many Huracáns as Aventadors in a typical year – sometimes three or four times as many – and it has long been opposed to ideas such as downsizing and turbocharging. This way, it can keep its enigmatic 10-cylinder lump and satisfy changing legislation.

Next Huracan to go plug-in hybrid in 2022

However global emissions testing regimes change over the next few years, it’s likely that a good plug-in hybrid Huracán could cut the amount of CO2 emitted by its cars in half when you factor production volumes into your thinking.

Trouble is, working at a place like Lamborghini means you’re always going to be pushing powertrain technology to its limit. With electrification technology as it is, I suspect it would be almost impossible to package a high-voltage battery and electric drive motors large enough to enable a big gain in an emissions test into a car of the current Huracán’s type and size – without also making the combustion engine smaller. There’s very little free space in the Huracán and Lamborghini’s preference for four-wheel drive makes it a relatively heavy car as things stand.

Future technologies such as solid-state or lithium-air batteries will change the picture and Lamborghini’s challenge should become easier. But I wouldn’t expect the Sant’Agata firm to be able to offset all of the additional mass that’s likely to be necessary at its first attempt.

If the next Huracán is both larger and heavier than the car it replaces, this will probably be why.