Lamborghini Is Making One Major Change To Its Cars
Lamborghini is changing its business model in one major way that will surprise you.
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The Lamborghini farewell tour has begun. Now, before you go getting your knickers in a twist (as many have already), the sports car itself is not going anywhere. What is going away, and what is on the farewell tour, is the powerful sports car’s internal combustion engine. In its place will be the somewhat popular electrified powertrain.
Yes, folks, this is the last year that Lamborghini will be putting together their enormously popular and steeply-priced sports car with a gas-powered engine. “It will be the last time that we only offer combustion engines,” informed the Volkswagen Group’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann. The Volkswagen Group, which has owned the Lamborghini sports car brand since 1998, says next year’s models will be a hybrid with the goal of cranking out full electrical models by 2024.
Now, those who have followed the Lamborghini should not be surprised by this announcement. Winkelmann explained the direction the company was taking in May of last year stating via CNBC, “Lamborghini’s electrification plan is a newly-plotted course, necessary in the context of a radically changing world, where we want to make our contribution by continuing to reduce environmental impact through concrete projects.” They are well on their way.
According to the CEO, the 2023 Lamborghini models will receive the plug-in hybrid treatment. In 2023, fans will first see the new Aventador equipped with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, which will then be followed by a Urus PHEV, and finally, a replacement for the Huracan. With all this Lamborghini newness right around the corner, what about the present models?
Well, also according to Winkelmann, if you are in the market for one of the very last internal combustion cars, you are most than likely out of luck. That is unless your order is already in. The CEO claims that practically the entire 2022 production run has sold out. This comes on the heels of a record-breaking 2021 for Lamborghini. Last year the sports car maker delivered a record 8,405 vehicles worldwide. This number represents a 13% increase. This number also included the 2,472 sports cars delivered in the United States, an 11% increase that was also a record.
To get Lamborghini cruising in the rightfully electrical direction, they have allocated $1.7 billion to start the plug-in hybrid models that would eventually turn into all electrical sports cars. The automaker has not quite nailed down its final design for its first fully electric Lamborghini, but it is making great strides. CEO Winkelmann says that the company is leaning heavily on making their first all-electric model a four-door one that would be designed for daily use instead of being built for speed. Now that would be a major change in direction.
As far as Lamborghini sales records go, Winkelmann didn’t have an exact breakdown of which model was the most popular. Globally, though, he reported that then Urus SUV accounted for 60 percent of sales last year. He also said that the Huracan contributed to 31 percent of the sales and that the remaining numbers went to the sales of the Aventador.
The regions that saw a nice jump in Lamborghini sales were Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, whose sales rose 12 percent overall. North and South America, along with the Asia-Pacific regions saw a 14 percent increase. Whether a plug-in hybrid Lamborghini or a full-on electric Lamborghini will see those types of impressive numbers remains to be seen.
Winkelmann has not revealed a price point for the 2023 plug-in hybrid models nor did he give one for the fully electric versions of the Lamborghini. But, if you’re in the market for one of the new models, you already know and understand their price points. You are also probably one who isn’t really concerned with the extravagant Lamborghini prices in the first place.
