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Lamborghini: Six-Cylinder Is A Risk, Four-Cylinder Is Disastrous
At Lamborghini, they think they have reached just the right level of electrification, at least for the coming years. The brand considers a smaller engine than a V8 to be too big a risk.
“Extreme downsizing is very risky. A six-cylinder is already a risk, a four-cylinder is potentially disastrous because it is not seen as a sports engine,” says Paolo Rachetti frankly. The Lamborghini Product Marketing Manager also states that the brand’s current sports car line-up, consisting of the fresh Revuelto and the brand-new Temerario, has reached exactly the right level of electrification.
The cars are strictly plug-in hybrids because you can charge them. According to Rachetti, that gives an electric range of about 10 kilometres, but he makes no effort to deny that this will rarely happen in practice. The Temerario keeps the charge level somewhere halfway where possible and the electrical components of the drivetrain, consisting of that battery and three electric motors, mainly serve to provide the Temerario with a lot of extra power. The car therefore has 920 hp as standard, and that is for the ‘entry-level Lambo’. Isn’t Rachetti afraid that the specialness will diminish a bit because of that horsepower race? Not really, it turns out when we ask him about it. According to the product boss, the emphasis will be more on other things, such as road holding and emotion.
And it is precisely because of this emotional aspect that the combustion engine is so vital. In Rachetti’s words: “The engine is the definition of driving emotion.” The core, therefore, is indispensable in an emotional product like a Lamborghini. Rachetti continues: “What brings out the right emotions? The sound, the vibration you feel, the gear shifting. It is very difficult to create those same sensations without a combustion engine on board.”
