Electric 2+2 due in 2028 is said to be a “concrete vision” of Italian firm’s next new model line
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The Lanzador is a rakish two-row supercar with a similar footprint to that of the Porsche Taycan,
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It has been conceived as a bridge between the Urus and the company’s line-up of traditional mid-engined supercars
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It is also described as a “laboratory on wheels”
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6 mins read
18 August 2023
The long-awaited electric Lamborghini is here. Five years since the landmark introduction of the transformative Urus SUV, the supercar firm is once again entering a new segment with a dramatic four-seat GT called the Lanzador.
Shown as a concept at Monterey Car Week in California and five years out from its scheduled launch, the Lanzador is a rakish two-row supercar with a similar footprint to that of the Porsche Taycan, but it sits higher from the ground in a bid for enhanced “versatility”.
The model has been conceived as a bridge between the Urus and the company’s line-up of traditional mid-engined supercars. The concept is said to be a “concrete vision” of Lamborghini’s next new model line, which aims to stay true to the company’s DNA by offering what the firm calls “best-in-class sportiveness and fun-to-drive character”.
It is also described as a “laboratory on wheels” rather than a mere show car, nodding to the production intent of the technology and manufacturing methods it showcases.
Confirmation of an electric Lamborghini came in 2021, when CEO Stephan Winkelmann revealed that discussions about the car’s bodystyle and positioning were under way. But speculation around Sant’Agata’s first EV has been rife since 2017, when the outlandish Terzo Millennio hypercar hinted at the firm’s zero-emission future.
The Lanzador goes a long way to shedding some light on exactly what Lamborghini’s electric future looks – and sounds – like. Asked why Lamborghini is showing the new model half a decade before the production car is due to arrive in showrooms, Winkelmann said: “If we enter a new segment – not jeopardising what you have and not cannibalising the line-up – it’s a good exercise to prepare the market, to let them think about what is coming in the future.”
He added that the next five years will provide a useful buffer zone in which Lamborghini can seek opinions and develop new approaches to carving out a distinctive character for its EVs.
“This is also why we’re showing a concept now, because we have to start speaking about these things,” he said.
Winkelmann added that the concept of “emotion” has been at the heart of these discussions: “There is the emotion of the sound and the emotion of the performance. So there are two types of performance: one is the pure numbers – acceleration, top speed, lap time – and then there is the emotional side.
And the emotional side for Lamborghini is always huge.” Talking about the sound the Lanzador emits under acceleration, Winklemann said: “We are studying what we can do.
There are three ways: not to do anything – so just the sound of silence, and at least my feeling is that we are not going to do that, then a fake sound, or amplification of the sound that exists.”
Lamborghini remains tight-lipped on the precise technical make-up of the Lanzador and has only loosely hinted at its performance potential. Pressed for a range figure, Winkelmann said: “There are a lot of elements we have to study in the next couple of years to get the right balance between design, performance and range.
It’s a bit too early now to fix a number, but for sure 300 miles, I think, is around what we need to have when we come to 2028.” More important, he suggested, will be the dynamic character of the production-spec Lanzador, which will need to be an obvious differentiator compared with other electric sports cars.
“I’ve been driving a lot of electric cars – one after the other,” he said. “What I’ve discovered to my pleasure is that there are huge differences between the brands, for example in the way of recuperating energy.
So the braking is very different, and then how you can utilise the shift panels on the steering wheel and other ideas. “It’s giving me a lot of hope that we can transform an electric car into something that is really emotional.”
He also said advances in software will be instrumental to carving out the Lanzador’s individual dynamic character: “There are a lot of things coming which are going to give the car handling behaviour that is even better than the supersports cars of today.”
As promised to Autocar last year by design chief Mitja Borkert, the Lanzador stays true to Lamborghini’s tradition of being styled as a ‘spaceship’ for the road.
There is influence from some of the brand’s most outrageous supercars, including the Sesto Elemento and Countach LPI 800-4, and an overt cab-forward outline inspired by traditional mid-engined supercars. While it’s raised higher from the ground than a Huracán or Aventador, the Lanzador’s roof is actually only around 1500mm from the road. That makes the EV roughly as tall as a Volkswagen Golf, although its driver – Lamborghini refers to them as a ‘pilot’ – sits low, “as if in a jet”.
The spaceship influence extends to the cockpit, which is divided down the middle by a centre console hosting a ‘pilot’s unit’ that includes the infotainment and climate controls, while a pair of digital displays – one for the driver and one for the passenger – retract into the dashboard when not required.
The cabin is upholstered “almost entirely” with sustainable materials sourced from within Italy. Merino wool is used for the dash, seats and door cards, the coloured stitching is made from a blend of recycled nylon and plastic, the foam in the seat bases is 3D-printed from recycled fibres and even the convincing carbonfibre-look panels used throughout the cabin comprise a mix of natural fibres and carbon strands, which, Lamborghini says “fit our DNA and sustainability requirements”.
The focus on sustainable production lies at the heart of Lamborghini’s ‘Direzione Cor Tauri’ CO2-reduction strategy, through which the Sant’Agata-based firm aims to halve its CO2 output from 2025 compared with 2021 levels. As of now, every Lamborghini sold will be electrified in some way.
The V10 Huracán and V8 Urus are both sold out until the end of their production runs, and each will be replaced by plug-in hybrids next year. The Aventador-replacing Revuelto supercar, meanwhile, is spoken for through to 2026.
Lamborghini has already confirmed that its second production EV will be the second-generation Urus, due around a year after the Lanzador. Beyond that, the firm has yet to reveal any concrete plans to fully electrify its supercar line-up.
Winkelmann said synthetic fuels – of the sort being developed by sibling brand Porsche – present “an opportunity” to decarbonise the use of these cars while sustaining their combustion engines, but added: “We have to wait and see. Luckily, we don’t have to decide now, because we have hybrid models starting now, so we have a lifecycle in front of us. This is something we have to look into in three or four years.
“The European Union says it wants to revisit its decision in 2026, but the point is – for a brand like ours – the administration: we need to have clear rules which enable us to sell all over the globe with one type of product, and this is going to be the toughest decision we have to make, because it’s useless to be compliant in Europe and not in other countries.”
Winkelmann is adamant that anything bearing the iconic raging bull badge must come from Italy, but discussions are still ongoing as to how the Lanzador will slot into existing production lines at Sant’Agata: “We have a lot of departments which are already working three shifts, so we’re already at maximum capacity.
“We also have to look into the supply chain: once you have a contract with suppliers, you cannot just say from one day to the other that you want to decrease or raise [output].”
Winkelmann also stopped short of giving any production volume targets. Lamborghini sold a record 9233 cars last year, with the Urus SUV accounting for well over half of that figure.
Given the Lanzador’s billing as a bridging model between the Urus and the lower-volume supercars, it seems reasonable to predict an ultimate annual output of more than 3000 units, with each no doubt priced from the equivalent of £300,000 as a reflection of that positioning.
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