Remember the Lamborghini Lanzador? The concept car that would be the basis of the Italian company’s EV supercar? The company announced at the time that it would only be built starting 2028. But more recently, it looks like it won’t be built at all. The Sunday Times reports that the production of the electric supercar has been cancelled.
Citing CEO Stephan Winkelmann, The Sunday Times reports that the “acceptance curve” for the battery-powered cars in the Lamborghini target market was flattening and “close to zero”. Additionally, he was also cited as saying that “investing heavily in full-EV development when the market and customer base are not ready would be an expensive hobby, and financially irresponsible towards shareholders, customers [and] to our employees and their families”.
Which is a bit of an ironic statement. After all, tractors aside, most of the company’s cars are seen exactly as expensive hobbies. But fortunately, Winkelmann had another explanation that made better sense.
He said that Lamborghini customers valued the “emotional experience” evoked by either design, raw performance or, crucially, the distinctive sound and feedback of the internal combustion engine”. And that EVs, by their nature, lacked that latter element, even if engine rev sounds can be faked. Ultimately, despite this year’s announcement, the Lanzador was cancelled in secret late last year.
So what is to be done with what’s left of the Lanzador concept? Winkelmann says that it will be replaced with a plug-in hybrid instead. While the company is not saying it won’t build purely electric cars ever, “but only when the time is right. For the foreseeable future, only PHEVs. We will continue to develop electrification because we also need to be ready”.
(Source: The Sunday Times)
