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federico foschini matteo ortenzi andrea ruggiero with huracanevo
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Philip Lord18 Feb 2019
NEWS

First hybrid Lamborghini just months away

Limited-edition Lamborghini hybrid supercar to debut at Frankfurt show as a taster for Italian brand’s eco future

Lamborghini will peel the wraps off its first ever production hybrid at the Frankfurt motor show in September, when the long-rumoured eco-supercar will not only serve as a pointer to its next-generation Aventador but also set the scene for the Italian supercar maker’s hybrid future.

According to Lamborghini’s Chief Commercial Officer, Federico Foschini, the LB48H “is not yet officially disclosed… but it’s in keeping with the early stage of the limited runs by Lamborghini.

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“So we had the Reventon, the Veneno and the Centenario, and now we have this car, [the LB48H]. This is the technical name but we’re not yet revealing the final name. This car is really a huge product for Lamborghini.”

Expected to take styling cues from last year’s Terzo Millenio EV show car (pictured), the LB48H uses an electric motor to drive the front wheels while retaining Lambo’s massive mid-mounted 6.5-litre petrol V12 to drive the rear wheels.

Foschini confirmed that Lamborghini’s new hybrid supercar has been limited to 63 customer examples (the 63 units accord with the year of Lamborghini’s inception, in 1963). All 63 cars were pre-sold in July last year.

Lamborghini Terzo Millenio EV show car in sketch form

The LB48H’s hybrid powertrain will be a taster for the upcoming Aventador -- when it finally arrives.

While rumours have been swirling around a 2020 replacement date for the next Lamborghini Aventador, Foschini said that might be too soon.

“Maybe it will be a little bit later, because of the success of the current Aventador is still so huge that we don’t need to change. For example, the SVJ, has been pre-sold just in the first three to four weeks.

“But yes, we are thinking about a replacement. The V12 for us is an asset, it is a main reason for customers to buy our car, because they are looking for the V12 and exclusivity given by the V12 and our layout [V12, mid-engined].”

Federico Foschini, Matteo Ortenzi, Andrea Ruggiero at reveal of Huracan Evo

The new Aventador will be the first new Lamborghini model line to start production with a hybrid model available, but Foschini said its electric range will be nominal.

“We know that the electrification trend is coming. So the idea is that we combine the V12 with a hybrid. Hybridisation will be tuned for performance, not merely for range. It is not a car that will run for 70 or 100km full electric.

“But we want to do some electric kilometres, maybe to go down town in some city. At the end of the day what we want power and want to have performance out of the hybridisation. So this is the concept that is behind the future of Aventador.

“It will be less than 50km -- about 30 I think. It is something we are still discussing; it is a trade-off between power and range. Power that you want to supply and range; it is about 30 to 50km at this moment.”

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Foschini said that while being a low-volume manufacturer allows emissions regulation concessions, they are not everywhere or ever-lasting.

“As a small car manufacturer we have some exemptions in Europe. With other countries like China, we are pooling with the [Volkswagen] Group, but sooner or later we are going to have to do our own stamp in terms of hybridisation.

“It’s for mainly the Asian markets for the possible legislation in the future because they are changing continuously so sooner or later we have to follow the major trends, because the risk is then for some markets to block you.”

Foschini said Lamborghini’s hybrid future was foreseeable. “The trend of the super sport cars comes from two things: one is the hyper car, the other is Formula 1.

unveiling of the new huracan evo 2

“If you look at the hypercars being built in the last year and are going to be launched [they] are all hybrid, and Formula 1 is already hybrid.”

It’s no surprise then that Lamborghini has more hybrids in the wings. Foschini said Lamborghini would have “a surprise” in store at Frankfurt alongside the LB48H, and although he would not expand on this we expect the surprise to be the MY2020 Urus plug-in hybrid.

Before then, Lamborghini is likely to use next month’s Geneva show to unveil the Urus off-road pack it announced in January (comprising two extra off-road modes and under-body protection) and the open-top Huracan Evo Spyder.

Foschini was speaking to carsales.com.au last Friday during the Australian reveal of the new Huracan Evo at the refreshed Lamborghini Sydney showroom, now enlarged to more than 406 square metres and fitted out in the new corporate showroom style.

Priced at a cool $459,441 plus ORCs, the new hardtop Huracan variant is available to order now ahead of first customer deliveries in the third quarter of 2019.

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Written byPhilip Lord
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