The entry range will be PHEV and will be close to 1000hp.

A few days ago Lamborghini presented a new product. Lamborghini Temerario. It is the company’s second plug-in hybrid, replacing the Lamborghini Huracán, which has been the brand’s base model until now.

The turnaround is important because it gives a sense of where the market is heading. Lamborghini is beginning to electrify its lineup, downsizing its combustion engines but using electricity to boost power to ridiculously high levels.

The strategy involves adapting to the new requirements that the European Union is aiming for. A few months ago, we saw the first electrified Porsche 911, and gradually new models should appear in which electricity plays a central role. At the same time, this will allow pure combustion engines to remain at the top of the model range.

A market that is becoming electrified

The EU has chosen the path of electrification. It is not an easy path for supercars.

At first, the first intention was to ban the sale of all combustion engine cars that were not emission-neutral from 2035. This, as we have already said, killed combustion cars, since the use of hydrogen or synthetic fuels leaves traces of NOx emissions or fine particles. Emission-neutral engines (of all types) do not currently exist.

An agreement was later reached in Europe. In the absence of a final vote, the sale of engines should be allowed. carbon neutral. That is, they emit no CO2, or less CO2 than is used to produce their energy source (synthetic fuel or hydrogen). The nuance is important because the lack of talk about emissions in general opens up the possibility that fuels may be carbon neutral but emit pollutants such as NOx or fine particles.

Despite this, burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine is still in its early stages. Toyota is trying to do this by ensuring that it is a way to preserve the feel and sound of internal combustion engines, but it has encountered serious problems in tests with hydrogen in gaseous and liquid form. Moreover, it is a very inefficient formula.

As for carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, we know that they are still extremely expensive. The most optimistic people claim that they will be at current fuel prices. Porsche is one of the brands that defends this position, but at the same time is an interested party, since it has a synthetic fuel plant. Moreover, it knows that a significant part of its future may be connected with them. On the contrary, the most pessimistic people claim that they will be far from average drivers.

It also remains to be seen how many brands will decide to continue selling combustion engines in Europe. Until 2035The European Union has planned a significant reduction in car emissions. In fact, a significant proportion of brands are not meeting the 2025 targets, so they need to continue to electrify their models and sell many more electric ones to offset the emissions of internal combustion engines.

That is, investments in combustion engines that can operate in Europe seem difficult to offset in the short and medium term, when emissions levels are gradually tightened. This has led to a sharp increase in investments in electric vehicles, and a train has been launched that is very difficult to stop. For the average person, the European market is experiencing a major electrification of the model range.

Some electrified supercars

Although, no doubt, with more room to maneuver, supercar manufacturers will have to take all of this into account as well.

Italy, along with Germany, was one of the countries that pushed hardest for synthetic fuel approval. This makes sense, as brands like Lamborghini and Ferrari are the flagships of the country. In both cases, the brands are taking steps to electrify their model ranges and are considering fully electric versions.

This will be key, as both companies have seen their sales soar in recent years, within the limits needed to maintain exclusivity. Bringing electrified versions to market will allow them to gradually reduce the final emissions of their fleet, easing the fine they will have to pay. The more cars electric or plug-in hybrid sell, the better for your final bill.

Moreover, it allows them to position their combustion engines as the best in class and most desirable option. Engines that can remain gigantic because customers will be willing to pay more for them. Having a combustion engine will be a status symbol. Not forgetting that other, less restrictive markets, such as the US, will continue to buy cars of this type. It is no coincidence that the latest great Ferrari V12 is clearly aimed at the latter market.

And it doesn’t have to be bad news. With the Temerario, Lamborghini wants to make the claim that a plug-in hybrid can have it all. incentives for conquest a public that can be considered reluctant to embrace electric cars from the start. Lamborghini knows that saying goodbye to the V10 and going for a V8 is a decision that could be controversial among its customers, so the company has decided to pump it up with power using the Temerario.

And the technical specifications of its latest model are to be closely examined, and it gives us an idea that, despite being entry-level in the range, these electrified cars will achieve characteristics and performance figures that were impossible to comprehend just over a decade ago when they were launched on the market as the Holy Trinity of the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder.

The Temerario has ditched the V10 engine in favor of a 4.0-liter V8, which has two turbochargers, producing a maximum power of 800 hp and spinning at 10,000 rpm. Three electric motors accompany the unit. One of them is connected directly to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine without a clutch and acts as a starter and supplies power where the V8 cannot reach.

The other two electric motors are responsible for driving the front wheels and are connected to a small battery with a capacity of only 3.8 kWh. It can be recharged in half an hour using a 7 kW socket (the maximum power supported) or by generating its own electricity using the combustion engine, as if it were a generator. Together, they manage to increase the power of the installation at full capacity to the maximum. 920 hpAll this allows you to reach 100 km/h in 2.7 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 343 km/h.

To achieve these figures, you need to activate the Sport and Corsa modes. The Strada option allows you to use the combustion engine exclusively, without the intervention of electric motors. The city mode limits the power to 190 hp to make the car more manageable in urban conditions.

This last mode gives us another clue as to where the market might go. Given the current restrictions in the centres of some major European cities, it is not surprising that in the future, traffic will be even more restricted and limited to electric vehicles. We have already seen some tests with so-called “emission radars”, and technically the car could be limited to electric-only driving in urban areas.

For supercar companies, it is also important in this context to have models that can be driven, as the customer will be able to continue to provide access to the centre of large cities. Paradoxically, under current regulations, a supercar with a range of over 40 kilometres in all-electric mode can enter the centre of Madrid and travel without restrictions, despite doubling or tripling the pollutant emissions of a small non-electrified city car.

Photos | Lamborghini

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