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Meet the Lamborghini Revuelto, the latest in the marque’s line of supercars that began with the Miura, and its first ever plug-in hybrid. The Revuelto succeeds the Aventador, is built around an all-new composite structure and is powered by a combination of 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12, 3.8kWh battery pack and three electric motors, with a total power output of 1001bhp. Read on for the full story on Lamborghini’s new V12 flagship supercar...
The Revuelto is a plug-in hybrid, although Lamborghini prefers to label it a HPEV, for high-performance electrified vehicle, than use the PHEV term. Whilst the 2019 Lamborghini Sian V12 hybrid stored its energy in a supercapacitor, the LB744 has a more capacious lithium-ion battery set-up. It can be charged via a port in the front luggage compartment, from empty to full in around half an hour. In reality, however, Revuelto owners will rarely need to plug in; the battery can be charged by the engine in as little as six minutes.
The battery pack is packaged in a longitudinal, 1550mm-long oblong in the middle of the car, in the area where you would have found the transmission tunnel in previous V12 Lamborghini supercars, from the Countach to the Aventador. Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr says its position ensures both best protection for the pack in the event of an impact and the best solution for weight distribution (Lamborghini quotes 44:56 front to rear.) The Revuelto is capable of fully electric running and offers around 30 per cent reduced emissions with 30 per cent more power compared with the Aventador.
The front e-axle and rear electric motor both contribute to deceleration too, helping reduce load on the regular friction brakes with regenerative braking, while also topping up the battery.
Yes, Lamborghini’s V12 lineage continues and remains naturally-aspirated, revving to a no-doubt heavenly sounding 9500rpm. The 6.5-litre unit (codenamed L545) has its roots in that of the Aventador, thoroughly re-engineered with new castings, exhaust routing, valve gear and many more revisions besides. Not least because it has been rotated through 180 degrees compared with the Aventador and its post-Miura forebears, to make room for the Revuelto’s battery pack and new transmission.
The engine is considered the lightest and most powerful Lamborghini production V12 yet at 218kg (17kg less than the Aventador’s engine) and generates 814bhp at 9250rpm. As a benchmark, the final, most powerful Aventador iteration, the Ultimae, produced 770bhp at 8500rpm (and 720Nm of torque to the LB744’s 725Nm). Combine this new peak figure with the boost from its trio of electric motors and total output comes to a Ferrari SF90-topping 1001bhp.
The engine has turned tail in order to meet a new, transversely-mounted, in-house developed double-clutch eight-speed transmission directly behind the engine. It’s termed an ‘E-DCT’ (Electric Dual-Clutch Transmission) as it incorporates one of the three electric motors, mounted directly above the gearbox. That motor also functions as both the starter motor and a generator. It can also assist the V12 with driving the rear wheels, or drive them without the engine in conjunction with the front motors in electric-only driving mode.
The new dual-clutch ’box is able to handle up to 800Nm, weighs approximately the same as the Huracan’s DCT and promises to be much faster and silkier in action than the Aventador’s single-clutch ISR (Independent Shifting Rod) gearbox.
There are two electric motors at the front, weighing 18.5kg apiece and generating 350Nm of torque each. Lamborghini is particularly excited about the torque-vectoring capability they enable, with the motors all but eliminating the need for the use of brakes for vectoring except in the most extreme situations. The front wheels are powered solely by the motors, with no prop shaft connecting the engine to the front axle.
The torque vectoring is controlled by a new generation of vehicle dynamics software for this and subsequent new Lamborghini models, titled Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo 2.0.
The Revuelto also features four-wheel-steering, with three degrees of movement in either direction for the rear wheels.
Drivers will be able to choose from 13 combinations of chassis and powertrain settings. The new hybrid powertrain can operate in three main modes; Recharge (in which the engine charges the battery), Hybrid and Performance. In addition to these, there are four driving modes:
Città (City) offers purely electric driving with reduced drag from the active aero system and comfortable suspension settings. Pure electric drive can be sent to all four wheels, even in reverse. In its most energy-efficient electric mode, it uses the front wheels only, with the rear electric motor activated based on demand.
Strada is for everyday driving with the V12 always on and up to 876bhp available.
Sport mode uncorks up to 895bhp and a more rear-biased torque balance for controlled powerslides, along with faster gear changes and firmer damping.
Corsa unleashes the full 1001bhp, and adopts chassis and stability control settings for neat, tidy, fast lap times.
Provisional Lamborghini Revuelto performance figures are as rapid as the power output suggests: 2.5sec from 0-100kmph, less than 7sec from 0-200kmph and a top speed of ‘more than’ 350kmph.
The Revuelto will stop as well as it goes, with carbon ceramic brakes standard and 10 pistons on the front calipers.
The brakes blend between regen from the motors and traditional friction braking. Lamborghini has worked hard to create consistency in feel, and the firm feeling after the pedal’s initial travel to remain consistent. Like brake pedal feel, steering weight doesn’t change from Strada to Sport, for the same goal of consistency.
The Revuelto is bigger than the Aventador but the design team has worked hard to disguise the extra volumes. The active rear wing has three positions, and is flush with the body when closed for a clean shape. Peak downforce is said to be 66 per cent greater than the Aventador Ultimae and everywhere you look there are aerodynamic surfaces. Apart from creating headroom, the valley shape of the roof directs airflow to the rear wing and fixed bargeboards behind the front wheelarches tidy up the airflow along the car’s flanks.
The bodywork is all carbonfibre apart from the doors (aluminium, for crash safety) and the bumpers (for insurance costs). As many as 400 body colours are available, including a yellow matched to the original Countach show car. The V12 is entirely exposed in the centre of the Revuelto’s coverless rear deck. ‘We don’t know if we can have the V12 engine again so we decided to celebrate this piece of art,’ senior designer Manuele Amprimo told evo at the car’s unveiling. ‘All of the shapes at the rear of the car celebrate the engine.’
The Y-shape seen most prominently in the front running light graphics (first used on 2017’s Terzo Millennio concept and subsequently on the Siān), is echoed in the rear lights, the sides, and inside the cockpit too. ‘The idea of the Y shape was there from the beginning,’ Mitja Borkert told evo. ‘I understood this is a signature of Lamborghini and I need to use it in a very bold way. Then developing the side, we had Y shape in the front, Y shape in the rear, Y shape in the side. So we had this nice rhythm of the Y shape around the car.’
The headlights are hidden in a deep colour-break recess, inspired partly by motorcycle design, and the purity of the space surrounding them is a nod to the Murciélago. There are further deliberate nods to Countach, Diablo and in the overall shape and scissor doors but the Revuelto very much has its own personality. ‘It’s following our design DNA,’ Mitja Borkert says. ‘The silhouette line we have, and the sculpture you see in the front view of a Lamborghini.’
Interior quality is much improved from previous Lamborghini supercars. It’s also easier to access, with some of the sill mass moving to the door and the B-pillar situated in such a way as to create a larger opening. There’s more space inside, too, with 24mm more headroom than the Aventador and a 3mm lower seating position, helpful for both tall drivers and those wearing helmets if driving on track.
Look over your shoulder and there’s that V12 again, clearly visible behind you through the rear glass (which is deep enough to also show just how low that engine’s mounted). There’s space for phone, wallet, sunglasses and drinks, and under the bootlid there’s even enough space for two trolley bags. Aside from rotary controllers on the steering wheel to toggle the drive, powertrain, aero and other modes, there are volume and stereo controls, making for less eyes-down time on the touchscreen, as per the Huracan Evo. Like the Huracan, indicators and wipers are controlled via switches on the wheel.
There are three digital screens: a 12.3-inch instrument panel in front of the driver, the 8.4-inch central touchscreen, and a 9.1-inch display in front of the passenger. They can input info, such as a postcode for navigation, for example, and swipe it across to the driver’s display; likewise the driver can bat content over to the passenger.
Beneath the expressive exterior, the Revuelto is built around a carbonfibre monocoque structure Lamborghini calls ‘monofuselage.’ The monocoque itself is made entirely from carbonfibre and unusually, so is the front subframe and crash structure – even the Rimac Nevera’s innovative carbon chassis uses aluminium for its front crash-absorption structures.
Lamborghini states that the composite front structure is capable of absorbing double the energy than that of the Aventador could in an impact, while being significantly lighter – the rear sub-structure is made from aluminium alloys. In total, the new car’s monofuselage chassis (which weighs around 188kg on its own) is 10 per cent lighter than the Aventador’s, while being 25 per cent more torsionally stiff.
Up until now, the Lamborghini Revuelto has been known to the world only by its codename, LB744. Where does Revuelto come from, and what does it mean? Like many classic Lambos, it’s named after a historic Spanish fighting bull. ‘The closest translation in English is “mixed up,”’ says CEO Stephan Winkelmann, referencing the car’s two power sources and dual brief of sustainability versus performance and emotion, adding: ‘I think it’s a cool name; we all liked it immediately.’
The Revuelto’s eight-to-nine-year lifecycle is planned to continue into the early ’30s, before which the first all-electric Lambos are expected to have been revealed (with a smaller SUV model in addition to the Urus likely to be among them). In 2024 Lamborghini will begin to hybridise its entire product range, with a target of a 50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025, and more than 80 per cent by the end of the decade.
‘If we want to continue to be a supersports car company, we have to adapt,’ Stephan Winkelmann told assembled journalists at the Revuelto’s reveal. ‘There are 20-year-olds today who love the fact that we are going electric; they want something which is cool but also sustainable. The cost of developing cars is getting higher. If we want to continue, we have to be strong [with the] Urus, strong [with] the fourth model line, which will be four-seaters and 2+2s; they have to be strong in electric and will be accepted as electric.’
Pricing has not yet been confirmed, but given the extra technical and production complexity, it’s reasonable to expect the Revuelto to retail for more than the Aventador, which bowed out of production with the Rs 3.4 crore Ultimae. We should perhaps even think closer to approximately Rs 4.5 crore than Rs 3.5 crore in the UK. Even so, ‘if forecasts translate, we think more than two years [of the production run] could be sold out already,’ Winkelmann says. Pre-production cars are already rolling down the newly rearranged line (following significant investment) at Sant’Agata, and production begins in earnest later in spring 2023.
Words by James Taylor
