Luxury carmakers going electric is big news, but what is really driving the electrification plans of the likes of Jaguar, Bentley and now Lamborghini?
Perhaps it’s a combination of the excitement of high-performance engineering combined with instant electric motor torque that captures the imagination, or just the sheer thought that even the uber-wealthy may embrace reducing their personal carbon footprints. Or maybe because the cars are already so expensive, any price difference doesn’t matter.
The latest carmaker to embrace electrification is Lamborghini. In an announcement on Tuesday (Europe time), the European sportscar maker outlined a “landmark transformation” stepping towards a sustainable future.
However, a fully electric future will only eventuate in the second half of this decade, when the luxury carmaker says it will commit fully to all-electric vehicles with “remarkable performance”.
Part of Lamborghini’s “Direction cor Tauri” strategic plan unveiled by CEO Stephan Winkelmann on Tuesday, the plan will see the company invest a considerable 1.5 billion euros ($A2.35 billion) over the next four years: the largest investment ever in the history of the Italian brand, which is now owned by Audi.
Until Lamborghini goes fully electric, it will embark upon a three phase strategy: first a “celebration” of the internal combustion engine, which in itself isn’t particularly reassuring considering the havoc internal combustion engines (ICE) have wreaked upon the planet’s climate.
This will be followed by two fuel-hungry new 12-cylinder ICE models between now and 2022, and then the arrival of the first hybrid Lamborghini in 2023, and the conversion of the entire range to hybrid power by 2024.
At that point, the fourth zero emissions model will finally be announced: the electric Lamborghini.
“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,” said CEO Stephan Winkelmann in a statement.
“Our response is a plan with a 360 degree approach, encompassing our products and our Sant’Agata Bolognese location, taking us towards a more sustainable future while always remaining faithful to our DNA.”
For Winkelmann, the time is ripe for the electric breakthrough, but only in certain markets. According to an interview with Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore, 95% of Lamborghini cars made are exported to global markets.
“In the world we see that not all markets are equally ready for the electric revolution,” Winkelmann was quoted as saying by the news agency.
“There are two types of mature markets: those ready for legislation, such as Asia, and those ready for culture, such as the countries of Northern Europe.”
What exactly is meant by this is not entirely clear, nor how the 1.5 billion euros will be spent. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, the majority of the plan’s resources – 1.5 billion – will be allocated to existing Lamborghini models: mainly the Aventador and Huracan models.
Two-thirds of this amount will go to research and development to be carried out entirely in Italy at the company’s Sant’Agata plant, which the carmaker says was certified CO2 neutral in 2015.
The other third will reportedly go towards covering costs of realising new models in the timeline, excluding the Electric Lamborghini, Il Sole 24 Ore reports.
But the research funded with the largest investment ever in Lamborghini’s history will support the brand’s electrification process with the aim of identifying technologies and solutions capable of combining top performance and driving dynamics with conversion to electric.
“We need to combine the need to reduce CO2,” Winkelmann was reported as saying, “with that of keeping the brand’s DNA unchanged. The client must not perceive the change, or he must perceive it but judge it as an improvement, a positive change. This is the challenge that awaits us.”
Auto analyst Matthias Schmidt is skeptical however. He says that the Italian stallion’s electrification plan is “not so much electric exotica, but more Brussels bureaucracy.”
In a blog post on Tuesday (Europe time), the analysts noted that Lamborghini had a waiver from the EU’s strict vehicle emissions targets allowing an average CO2 output per vehicle of 304gm/km in 2020.
This is higher even than Bentley, which has plans to go fully electric by 2030 and had an exemption allowing for 245gm/km carbon emissions from the European Commission.
Schmidt says that the trend of luxury carmakers making the leap to electrification is instead driven by the fact that between 2025 and 2028, the EU will phase out the exemptions (known as derogations).
In Lamborghini’s case, the phase-out begins this year when its targets reduce to a (still hefty) 299gn/km of CO2 emitted.
“ The phase-out of the derogations for these luxury manufacturers is forcing the hands of not just Lamborghini, but also Ferrari (already made the first leap with 150 West European PHEVs registered this year according to Schmidt Automotive Research data) to reconsider their medium-term drivetrain portfolios and plug-in to a greener future,” says Schmidt.
“In the case of Lamborghini, this is very likely a case of product planning decisions being made in Sant’Agata Bolognese, with a heavy dose of Brussels seasoning on top.”
That may well be the case but it surely won’t stop Winkelmann from waxing lyrical about the beloved Italian brand.
“Our dream, our vision is that in the second part of this decade we will have an electric Lamborghini,” he told Il Sole 24 Ore.
“We imagine a 2 + 2 a little higher from the ground than our super sports cars: not an Aventador or a Huracan, but a car to be used every day for more than two people “.
One thing Lamborghini knows its customers won’t want to go without is the distinctive grumble of the V12 engine. So what will that sounds like?
“We do not know yet,” Winklemann was quoted as saying. “Studies are in progress. What we do know is that it must not be a duplication of the noise of the combustion engine. It must have a particular sound, capable of moving as much as the roar of a V12.”
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.