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Lamborghini Aventador, Gallardo won’t get plug-in hybrid technology

Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann has officially ruled out a plug-in hybrid option for either the V12-powered Lamborghini Aventador or the Lamborghini Gallardo V10.


Winkelmann told a small group of automotive media including CarAdvice at the 2012 Paris Motor Show that "there is no plug-in hybrid planned for the either the Lamborghini Gallardo or Aventador".

"Due to the size of the cars and due to the weight of the hybridisation it would be impossible for our cars to adopt this current technology," Winkelmann said.

"Firstly, it won’t fit, and secondly, it would reduce the their power-to-weight ratios by too much."

Instead, the 2013 Lamborghini Aventador will continue with its V12 powertrain and add two emissions reducing systems – stop-start technology and cylinder deactivation – both of which were developed in-house by Lamborghini specifically for the Aventador.

While Lamborghini has developed several variations of its smaller Gallardo sports car, the Aventador is currently available only as a coupe. However, Winkelmann told the group the company has "lots of plans for Aventador".

Lamborghini’s director of research and development, Maurizio Reggiani, said the Aventador "is an amazing technical platform, which has huge potential”, but acknowledges the fact that the carbonfibre-based Aventador weighs more than the aluminium based structure of Ferrari’s new F12 model (1575kg versus 1525kg), which also has more power than Lamborghini’s flagship model (559kW versus 522kW).

Reggiani is quick to point out, however, that the Aventador will accelerate faster than the Ferrari F12 (0-100km/h in 2.9sec versus 3.1sec), as well as having a higher top speed (350km/h versus 340km/h) despite the Ferrari’s significant weight advantage.

Despite this, Lamborghini’s strategy into the future with all models is to reduce weight and increase power during the lifecycle of each car.

Lamborghini is also on course to reduce CO2 emissions by 35 per cent by 2015, hence the two new features for the 2013 Aventador that will see CO2 emissions fall by seven per cent.

Lamborghini is an expert in carbonfibre technology and says advances in the production of the material mean it could soon be comparable in price to aluminium. The build time for carbonfibre components is also set to be reduced dramatically, from six hours to as little as eight minutes in some cases.

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