Lamborghini Revuelto is 1000bhp PHEV Aventador replacement
The Revuelto is the Italian firm’s maiden plug-in hybrid supercar
Hybrid successor gets 6.5-litre V12, three electric motors and lightweight battery pack to become most potent Lambo yet
The long-awaited successor to the Lamborghini Aventador arrives as the Italian marque’s first step into the electric age – albeit with the bulk of the Revuelto’s 1000bhp being drawn from a new 6.5-litre V12 powerplant.
The firm’s maiden plug-in hybrid supercar, originally codenamed LB744, is therefore the most potent Lamborghini in the carmaker’s history, and therefore can deliver some eye watering numbers: 2.5-second 0-62mph, a sub-7 second 0-124mph, and a top speed beyond 217mph.
This is down to a trio of 147bhp electric motors – one integrated into the gearbox and with a pair at the front, one powering each wheel – that supplement the 814bhp V12.
Keeping this V12 was a battle, Lambo’s former Chief Technical Officer, Maurizio Reggiani, who led the early development of the Revuelto admits, given Volkswagen Group’s widespread move to downsizing and turbocharging.
Yet, it was one that Lamborghini was able to win due to both overwhelming support from existing customers, but also through the use of hybridization to cut emissions.
Driving an all-new eight-speed double-clutch gearbox mounted behind it, the new engine – turned 180-degrees compared to the Aventador – is 17kg lighter than the car it replaces but makes more power, delivering 814bhp at a searing 9250rpm, with the limiter not calling time until 250rpm later.
The battery pack, which sits in what would previously have been considered the transmission tunnel, stores a modest 3.8 kWh of charge - good for electric-only range of around six miles. The fact the charging port is within the front luggage compartment suggests it is not intended to be plugged in very often.
The V12 can, however, directly recharge the battery pack through the rear motor, in a process claimed to take just six minutes.
The pack is much lighter than most batteries, weighing 70kg, with the front motors adding another 80kg of mass. Fuel economy and CO2 figures haven’t been finalised, but Lamborghini says both will be around 30 percent better than the Aventador Ultimae.
The battery’s peak flow rate is the limiting factor on electrical assistance, with a maximum of 140kW equating to 187bhp. Each of the three 110kW motors can take up to 147bhp, allowing the battery’s output to be juggled accordingly - and with torque biassing across the front axle.
The rear electric motor adds assistance to one shaft in the twin clutch gearbox, meaning it is possible for the two sides of the Revuelto’s powertrain to be driving different gears simultaneously.
Like the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 and Countach LPI 800-4 hyper-hybrids, as well as the Ferrari SF90, the Revuelto will only reverse under electrical power, but with the ability to drive all four wheels.
The Revuelto will be heavier than the Aventador, despite weight savings throughout the structure. The new car’s carbonfibre tub is both lighter and 40 percent stiffer than the last generation, now featuring a composite front crash structure - a world first in a road car.
But the bulk of the hybrid system means that overall mass is still higher. Lambo hasn’t released a formal kerbweight, but the promise of a power-to-weight ratio of 563bhp/tonne emerges from the calculator as 1776kg.
Underneath, the Aventador’s pushrod-operated suspension has gone, replaced by conventional upright springs for the twin wishbones at each corner. Lamborghini CTO Rouven Mohr says the new arrangement has packaging advantages and that improvements in damper technology have allowed equal performance from conventional mountings.
The Revuelto will also get standard rear-axle steering plus active aerodynamic elements; there isn’t an official figure for peak downforce but we’re told it will be about the same as the Aventador SVJ made with its adjustable wing in its lowest drag configuration.
Design draws on many familiar Lamborghini themes, and keeps the trademark wedgy proportions that stretch back to the Countach. But there is lots of innovation, too - from the compact LED headlights that sit beneath the overhang of the bonnet, to the deliberately visible radar sensors integrated into the front grille.
The side profile is defined by the huge air intakes behind the front-hinged doors, but there is also a new channel above these under buttress style wing elements. Lines at the rear are kept clean by a deployable spoiler, with the chance to also see the engine through an aperture in the carbonfibre rear hood.
The interior is both more spacious and much more high-tech than the Aventador’s, the Revuelto getting a reconfigurable letterbox shaped 9.1-inch passenger side display screen to supplement its digital instruments and portrait orientated 8.4-inch central touchscreen.
Most driving controls are integrated into the steering wheel with separate controls for the dynamic and powertrain modes. It also has much more oddments space than any of its predecessors, and will be the first Lamborghini supercar to come with pop-out Porsche style cupholders.
The Revuelto’s early success is guaranteed - the first two years of production are already sold according to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we’re told that even in its launch guise the Revuelto will cost more than the Aventador SVJ.
Lamborghini has also confirmed the same core architecture and electric AWD system will underpin the Lamborghini Huracan’s replacement, but with that car set to trade the outgoing V10 for a twin-turbocharged V8.