- Lamborghini’s CEO confirms that the brand’s first electric vehicle is dead before it arrived.
- The plan was to launch a high-riding electric two-door in 2028 or 2029, but the project is now officially cancelled.
- It could still arrive with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, which makes sense given the softened 2035 EU gas car sales ban.
Lamborghini is all about the drama of noisy combustion engines, but we weren’t surprised when it unveiled a pure EV with plans for production, since, like all carmakers in Europe, it faced the 2035 gas engine ban. However, with the ban postponed, it turns out it’s not going to happen after all, since the manufacturer isn’t willing to invest in producing a vehicle that it’s not sure will sell.
Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann recently talked to The Sunday Times, saying it would be “financially irresponsible” for the company to invest heavily in the development of a pure EV when interest in such a model is “close to zero.” But is that so?
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The electric vehicle in question should have been the production version of the Lanzador EV revealed in August 2023 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. It would likely have undergone changes during its transition from concept to production, but it would have remained a high-riding SUV-like 2+2 coupe grand tourer with an electric motor powering each axle, delivering a combined output of over 1,000 kilowatts (1,360 hp).
The original plan was to launch the Lanzador in 2028 or 2029 as a pure-electric vehicle. The model could still arrive, though, with plug-in hybrid power instead. We will see an increasing number of performance plug-in hybrids as we get closer to 2035, when automakers must cut their CO2 emissions by 90% relative to 2021.
Lamborghini also has no intention of building a larger electric SUV, but it already offers an Urus PHEV with 789 horsepower and up to 37 miles (60 km) of pure-electric range.
The Urus is built on the same platform as the combustion Porsche Cayenne. However, the Cayenne has received a separate electric model built on completely different underpinnings, so Porsche believes there is a market for such a model. Bentley is also preparing to pull the wraps off its first EV, an “urban SUV” built on the same PPE platform as the electric Cayenne and likely sharing the same capacity battery pack, as well as other components to help keep development costs down.
Porsche is reportedly considering pulling the plug on its electric sports car program, although that’s a different type of car aimed at different buyers, not the same people who would consider a car like the Lanzador. Then again, Audi is also developing an electric sports car, and it recently confirmed that the project is still on track.
Even Ferrari has remained steadfast to its EV plans and is set to reveal its first battery-powered model, the Luce, sometime this year. While it will certainly be a controversial model for a brand as intrinsically linked to the combustion engine as Ferrari, the Italian manufacturer seems convinced there is a market for it. This is at odds with what the Lamborghini CEO is saying, but we’ll have to wait until these new luxury EVs hit the market to see if they’re more than just an “expensive hobby,” as he called them.
