Lamborghini has managed to sell quite a lot of Urus SUVs, but an all-electric alternative with an even higher price tag was probably a stretch.
Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Lamborghini has managed to sell quite a lot of Urus SUVs, but an all-electric alternative with an even higher price tag was probably a stretch. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Dropping the Lanzador EV doesn’t free Lamborghini from meeting decarbonization requirements. The US might have torn up its emissions regulations, but Lamborghini’s US sales were down almost 10 percent last year. Europe is a more important market for the brand, and the European Union still wants to see 90 percent of all new cars be zero-emission by 2035.
As a small manufacturer, Lamborghini will get a little more leeway than Audi or Porsche might, but if it wants to keep selling cars to rich Europeans, it still needs to electrify to some degree, particularly if those Europeans want to drive their cars in cities with zero-emissions zones. Lamborghini drivers tend to drive in those areas often—it’s where the people can see you drive past, after all.
So the plan is to produce more plug-in hybrids. In fact, by 2030, the entire Lamborghini lineup will be made of PHEVs. Access to those VW Group electrification resources will be helpful here, but it’s not like Lamborghini hasn’t already started down that path. There’s a PHEV Urus SUV now, plus the 1,001-hp plug-in hybrid V12 Revuelto and the brand-new PHEV Temerario, the replacement for the Huracán.
Lamborghini sent Ars a statement saying that after “extensive analysis and ongoing dialogue with dealers and customers, it became clear that the pace of adoption of pure BEV vehicles has slowed considerably, particularly within the luxury super sports segment, where demand remains very limited.
“In light of these considerations, the product strategy has been refined,” Lamborghini told Ars, adding that, while it’s ready technologically for an EV, “market readiness within the segment is not yet aligned with this transition.”