Epic Lamborghini Revuelto revealed
Lamborghini's mastermix? Watch our latest first look video to find out...
After teasing us with details of its powertrain, structure and various drive modes, Lamborghini has finally pulled the sheet of the Aventador’s replacement. Meet the Lamborghini Revuelto.
There are plenty of highlights, but the Revuelto’s star feature remains the continued presence of a naturally aspirated V12 engine. Keeping this charismatic configuration was by no means a given, according to Lambo’s former Chief Technical Officer - and now head of motorsport - Maurizio Reggiani. He admits that when development on the Revuelto started there was plenty of pressure from Volkswagen Group to follow the herd with a smaller, turbocharged engine to work in conjunction with the new car’s hybrid system, especially as Bentley was going to give up its 12-cylinder engine. But backed by customer demand, Lamborghini won the argument - and the 6.5-litre V12 will survive for one more model generation.
But before considering the smart new powertrain, we should first revel in the design. The Revuelto manages the neat trick of looking immediately familiar while actually being substantially different from the car it replaces. There is no mistaking it for being a Lamborghini; even without any badging the cab-forward proportions and wedgy lines are immediately obvious. Lambo design boss Mitja Borkert says there were no fewer than 17 styling proposals for the project, but also that all the ideas that made it to production came from inside his team in Sant’ Agata.
At the front the ultra-compact headlights sit shrouded beneath the bonnet, a detail that Borkert admits was inspired by the Ducati Panigale superbike - with the sideways Y-shaped running lights referencing the similar units fitted to the unobtanium-grade Sián. The new lights also mean there is no longer a hard-to manage shutline above them. The black aperture in the front bumper also features two radar sensors - necessary for the Revuelto’s battery of ADAS systems - with these deliberately on show rather than hidden to put the new tech on display.
Further back is more inspiration from the Sián in the huge blade-shaped air intakes behind the doors - these being front-hinged, naturally. What looks at first like solid bodywork above these in the style of the Murcielago’s rear flanks actually just covers air channels. So yes, a Lamborghini with buttresses - or ‘aero wings’ as Borkert describes them. There is a tiny rear screen ahead of the engine cover, with this containing a cut-out that puts the top of the V12 on view - this at the insistence of Lambo CEO Stefan Winkelmann. The rear wing element is active, but folds neatly when the car is stationary. The huge center-exit exhaust pipes and the way the diffuser strakes expand upwards into the vertical are pretty much cartoonish in terms of visual aggression. But this is a Lamborghini; that’s the whole point, right?
The interior is also significantly changed. The Aventador’s lack of cabin space was one of the most frequent complaints from buyers, and it is now appreciably taller and with more elbow room. While Lamborghini has resisted the growing move to XXL screens, the Revuelto gets three displays - a 12.3-inch instrument pack, a portrait orientated 8.4-inch touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard - this mounted in an elaborate structure below the central airvent that seems to be modelled on an alien’s head - and a new 9.1-inch letterbox screen in front of the passenger which can be configured to deliver various bits of information.
The steering wheel integrates numerous functions. The Aventador was pretty much the last supercar to stick with column stalks, but the Revuelto has moved wiper and indicators onto the face of the wheel, although with the sensible option of an ‘off’ function for the flashers. There are also four miniature controllers for the aerodynamics, ride height, plus powertrain and dynamic setting modes - with a new EV-only Città mode added to Strada, Sport and Corsa. The focus on functional purity is slightly knocked by an unchanged Audi control stalk for the new active cruise system. The Revuelto also gets much more oddments space than the Aventador - another complaint from owners - and is also the first Lambo sports car to have cupholders, a pair of Porsche-style deployable arms mounted above the glovebox.
We’ve already done a full tech breakdown on the powertrain, so should be able to cover it off fairly quickly. The new L545 engine is effectively a heavy development of the Aventador’s unit, albeit with a new, lighter block casting. It shares the 6.5-litres of displacement as well as bore and stroke, but gets a new valvetrain with sportsbike style finger followers to allow even higher revs. On Lamborghini’s numbers the peak 813hp comes at 9,250rpm, but the Revuelto won’t hit its limiter until a dizzying 9,500rpm. The biggest difference from earlier V12 Lambos is that the Revuelto’s engine has been turned 180-degrees, now driving a gearbox mounted behind rather than in front of it - in this case a new eight-speed twin-clutch transmission.
The three-motor hybrid system is the clever bit. Each can deliver a peak of 110kW, that equating to 147hp, but the drivertrain’s limiting factor is the maximum 140kW peak flow - that’s 187hp - from the compact 3.8kWh battery unit mounted in what would have previously been called the transmission tunnel in the centre of the cabin. That means a combined peak power output of 1001hp - or 1015 metric horsepower. The ability to move power between the motors very quickly will be the most important part of the Revuelto’s dynamic toolcase according to CTO Rouven Mohr, who also acknowledges it is possible that brawnier future variants will get more potent battery packs.
The two front motors give the ability to torque vector under both power and braking; and as there is no longer any mechanical drive to the front wheels all effort is delivered electrically. The motor at the rear is integrated into the new gearbox, able to supply drive through one of the gearsets, but also to act as a starter-generator for the V12. So although the Revuelto’s EV-only mode will have a very limited range, likely just six miles, the three motors will be able to harvest and reuse large amounts of energy when the car is driven quickly.
Although it will be possible to recharge the battery from a socket, the fact the port to do so is located inside the front luggage compartment suggests few owners will regularly choose to do so for the minimal amount of EV range. More relevant is the V12’s ability to recharge the battery in as little as six minutes, even when the Revuelto isn’t driving. Economy and CO2 numbers haven’t been released yet, but we’re told to expect them to be about 30 per cent better than the Aventador Ultimae.
We do have some other details on mass to add to the earlier announcements. The central battery pack weighs in at a relatively modest 70kg. The new carbon Monofuselage structure is both 40 per cent stiffer and also lighter than the Aventador’s carbon tub, but despite all the weight saving the Revuelto is still set to be heavier than its predecessor. Lambo hasn’t given a final weight figure, but its promise that the new car will have a power-to-weight ratio of 1.75kg/ PS which emerges from the calculator at 1776kg. Lamborghini says that static front-to-rear weight distribution is 44:56.
Despite the heft, performance will be searing. As with many full EVs the full output will be progressively unlocked in more aggressive dynamic modes. Choosing the electric only Città mode limits the Revuelto to a lowly 178hp, with Strada upping that to 873hp, Sport raising it to 895hp and Corsa bringing the full 1001hp. Select that and use the launch control function accessed through the steering wheel and Lamborghini claims a 2.5-second 0-62mph time, a sub 7-sec 0-124mph time and a top speed that will be somewhere beyond 217mph.
One sad omission is the loss of the Aventador’s beautiful pushrod operated suspension, which looked gorgeous when exposed. The Revuelto has switched to conventional upright spring mounts for the twin wishbones at each corner. Rouven Mohr says that the new arrangement brings packaging advantages, and that improvements in damper technology allows comparable performance without the need for pushrods. Rear-wheel steering will be standard of the Revuelto, as will adaptive aerodynamics. The result has both less drag than the Aventador, but also more downforce; we don’t have a final number yet, but Lamborghini says the peak will be similar to what the Aventador SVJ produced in its low drag configuration. The Revuelto’s steering ratio is also 10 percent quicker than the Aventador Ultimae - a dynamic lesson taken straight from the Huracan STO - while anti-roll bars are also much stiffer both front and rear.
And yes, there is still a bull connection. Apparently the original Revuelto fought in Spain in the 1880s, but a literal translation of the name from Spanish – ‘scrambled’ – sums the car up pretty well. It’s a Lamborghini remix.
The first buyers will be getting into cars before the end of the year, and although Lamborghini hasn’t formally announced a price yet, Stefan Winkelmann confirms that it will be higher than the Aventador SVJ was. So that’s north of £400,000 for what we will doubtless look back on in a few years as being the vanilla version. That hasn’t been any bar to interest, though - Lamborghini says the first two years of production is already spoken for.
So - who has a deposit in?
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