Time has still yet to be called on the naturally aspirated supercar thanks largely to Lamborghini, so it's great to see the brand double down, by revealing a new V10 model sans turbocharging and hybridisation. Yet while the new Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica might feel like another derivative of a supercar we’re already well acquainted with, it can only be good news as with every new iteration the car keeps getting better and better.
This new Huracan Tecnica sits somewhere between existing models in the range, sharing its 631bhp 5.2-litre V10 engine and dual-clutch transmission with the STO (and all-wheel drive Evo), but packaging it into a more road-focused rear-wheel drive package that sits neatly above the entry-level Evo RWD. As well as the STO’s powertrain, it also picks up rear-wheel steering (not available on the base RWD), and a bespoke chassis calibration that runs through Lamborghini’s LDVI system, the car’s centralised electronic brain.
While power and torque might be identical to that of the STO, the Tecnica does sit slightly heavier on the road with a 40kg rise in weight at 1379kg (dry). As such, there is a subtle effect on acceleration times, taking an extra 0.2 of a second to reach 100kmph at 3.2sec. Despite its extra hardware, the Tecnica is 10kg lighter than the base RWD – we put the variation down to its standard-fit carbon ceramic brakes.
Lamborghini also says other parts of the technical package have been refined, including improved brake cooling and a new exhaust system to help the V10 pass its emissions regulations.
More substantial changes come in the form of the Tecnica’s styling, however, which takes its lead from models like the Sian and SCV12 Essenza track car. The Tecnica’s fundamentals are the same – it shares the aluminium body of the RWD rather than the STO’s wider composite body – but diverges where it can. The biggest difference is seen on the flanks, where Lamborghini has swapped out the Coupe’s side pressing for one borrowed from the Huracán Spyder. This has allowed designers to reshape the upper rear haunches completely, pulling the roof in tight to the cabin and leaving a void beyond the rear quarter glass, which Lambo’s filled in with a new vent.
This small change has created a fundamentally different look for this Huracán, something that’s matched on the rear deck with a new sunken engine cover that reveals more of the engine bay and the upright rear glass that’s usually hidden. There’s also a new stacked rear wing and redesigned rear bumper with hexagonal exhaust finishers.
The front end hasn’t been neglected, as the existing headlights have been integrated into a new, more segmented front bumper design that takes direct cues from the Sian. Overall the design is more, for the lack of a better word, technical and brings a higher level of detail to the Huracán’s relatively restrained design – which is no bad thing, this is a Lamborghini after all.
What it hasn’t adopted is the STO’s carbonfibre front clamshell, leaving the standard car’s traditional bonnet in place. There’s also a new six-spoke wheel design that gives us yet another interpretation of the iconic Italian telephone dial wheel, and Lamborghini’s pushing its expanded Ad Personam personalisation scheme, with over 200 new exterior colour options available and hundreds of interior colour and trim variations.
Lamborghini claims that the new design elements have had only positive effects on aero, with a 20 per cent reduction in lift and a 35 per cent increase in downforce compared to the base RWD, although as you’d imagine its downforce figures are nothing like as aggressive as the STO’s. The Tecnica is the compromise with a 323kmph top speed, nearly 16kmph higher than the STO and equal to the all-wheel drive Evo.
The rest of the Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica’s fundamentals are otherwise unchanged – it still uses a hybrid carbonfibre and aluminium structure, double-wishbones at all four corners, with coil springs and Lamborghini’s excellent electromagnetic dampers.
Prices for the Tecnica have yet to be confirmed, and we suspect a Spyder model will be along shortly, but as to the question of whether this will be the last naturally aspirated V10 Lamborghini model is something we can only speculate on.