Lamborghini swerves away from all-electric future

The boss of Lamborghini has said its customers still want “the sound and the emotion” of internal combustion engines, and the company will use them in its cars for at least the next decade.

Speaking to the BBC at the Italian supercar-maker’s London showroom, chief executive Stephan Winkelmann said enthusiasm for electric cars was declining – creating an opportunity to focus on hybrid power instead.

Lamborghini will decide in the next month whether a long-planned new model, the Lanzador, will be all-electric, or merely a plug-in hybrid, he said.

Mr Winkelmann insisted the business was socially responsible, but added that as a low-volume manufacturer, its actions would have a limited impact on the environment.

Lamborghini is a luxury brand ultimately owned by the Volkswagen Group. It currently has three main models.

The Temerario and Revuelto are supercars. Both are plug-in hybrids, combining powerful petrol engines with electric motors. They can run in all-electric mode, but only for very short distances.

The Urus is a luxury SUV, currently available as a plug-in hybrid and as a conventional petrol-powered car. Less exotic and certainly less ostentatious than the supercars, it nevertheless makes up more than half of the company’s sales.

There is also a limited edition “super-sports” car – the Fenomeno, which has a top speed of more than 215mph. Only 30 will be built, each costing at least €3m (£2.6m) before taxes.

Two years ago, Lamborghini announced plans for an all-electric successor to the Urus, which would have been available from 2029. However, the plan was recently shelved, with the electric model now not expected before 2035.

It had also planned to make a brand new battery-powered grand tourer (GT), to be called the Lanzador. However, the future of that project is also deeply uncertain.

“We still need to decide whether we are going full electric, the decision we took some years ago, or seeing whether in the new environment this should also be a plug-in hybrid,” said Mr Winkelmann.

The new environment he refers to is a perceived waning of interest in electric cars among high-end buyers.

“Today enthusiasm for electric cars is going down,” he explained. “We see a huge opportunity to stay with internal combustion engines and a battery system much longer than expected.”

Continuing to use internal combustion engines for another 10 years, he said, would be “paramount for the success of the company”. Customers, he insisted, still hankered after the noise and fury of a conventional motor.

“This is something they want, they still want the sound and the emotion of an internal combustion engine,” he said.

It’s an approach that contrasts with that of Lamborghini’s Italian arch-rival Ferrari, which is pushing ahead with its own plans for a first all-electric car.

The aptly-named Elettrica is due to be unveiled next year, though the company showed off some key components at its Capital Markets Day earlier this month.

It will be sold alongside conventional and hybrid models.

Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna said it would have driving traits that were “unique in the heart, in the soul of our clients”.

Mr Winkelmann insisted his own company was not ignoring the ongoing pressure to cut emissions.

“We are selling 10,000 cars in a world that is producing 80 million cars a year, so our impact in terms of CO2 emissions is not that important,” he said.

“For sure, we are socially responsible, but it doesn’t really make a lot of difference.”

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars, including plug-in hybrids, is due to be banned in both the EU and the UK from 2035.

However, in the EU, there has been intense lobbying from some manufacturers for the transition to electric cars to be given more time, in order to “acknowledge current industrial and geopolitical realities”.

If that happens, internal combustion engines could remain on the market beyond the current deadline.

Meanwhile the UK’s rules provide an exemption for “low volume” manufacturers who register fewer than 2,500 new cars each year.

This would currently cover Lamborghini, which sold just 795 cars here last year.