But won't compromise on certain models.
Lamborghini made a big splash at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, premiering the reborn Countach, a boat load of classic Countachs, and its selection of current supercars like the Aventador Ultimae and Huracan STO. It was raging bull heaven, and CarBuzz got a chance to talk to Lamborghini's Chief Technology Officer, Maurizio Reggiani, about the state of the company.
We talked to him about his favorite Lamborghinis and the obvious future of electrification for the brand, but what really surprised was his stance on autonomous driving. Your first instinct is to think a Lamborghini guy like him would be 100% against not driving yourself, but he sees where the future is going, and we're not just talking about Diablos anymore.
"As for adaptive cruise control, pedestrian protection, we need to implement them, no discussion," said Reggiani. "As for autonomous, it won't be in something like the Aventador or Huracan. That is a concept that cannot work. But the Urus can be a commuter. It's great for going from one city to another, and on longer trips. We already have Level 2 plus in Urus, so we could see it there."
And that makes complete sense. Even a brand like Lamborghini has to keep up with the times. And in the same way manufacturers offer electric cars to balance out their gas guzzlers, the Italian brand will bring tech where tech is needed, and brute force when it's not.
Reggiani also told CarBuzz that he too had a Lamborghini Countach poster on his wall, even though he's a full generation, or more, ahead of us. That's just a testament to the groundbreaking styling and panache of the model. His was up in his "sleeping room" in 1977 (it was green), ours were up throughout the '80s and even into the '90s. He also confirmed that the new Countach sold out easily.
We talked about EVs, and we asked him what is going to separate a Lamborghini EV from the rest, many of which are faster than today's supercars by a long shot. He told us that the company needs to have a strategy. And that it's design will still carry it though.
"We have to move step by step, with hybrids first," said Reggiani. "Super sports cars are full of emotion, braking, cornering, drifting, we need differentiation. A smaller hybrid turbo can't do that, we still have to guarantee emotion, otherwise you don't need to buy a Lamborghini."
"By 2025 we'll be reducing the CO2 in the fleet by 50%. To guarantee the emotion of a plug-in we need a strong weight reduction, better use of electronic integration and better energy recuperation. It needs to be better than the previous supercars," said Reggiani.
We now know that the rumor of the death of supercars after electrification was greatly exaggerated. We're about a decade on from when we thought all hybrids and electrics would be slow and boring. But as the green wave washed over the industry, it started with those slow and boring cars. Then it moved to electrify sports cars and performance cars, and now supercars. Whether you're a climatologist or a climate change denier, it's still a great time to be a car enthusiast.
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