Thursday 14th February 2013

Lamborghini to show front-engined V12

Boss Winkelmann confirms 'something truly extraordinary' will go to Geneva

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Lamborghini has confirmed that it’ll be bringing a groundbreaking new car along to Geneva – and it looks like it’ll be something with a front-mounted V12. Company chairman Stephan Winkelmann confirmed to Autocar yesterday that they’ll be revealing ‘something truly extraordinary’ – but apparently, it won’t be based around the Aventador’s mid-engined chassis.

Aventador won't donate its oily bits

Instead, the new car will receive entirely new underpinnings, which suggests that it’s likely to be front- or front-mid engined. But what form it’ll take other than that is subject to debate. With the recent arrival of the Ferrari F12, there’s plenty of reason to consider Lambo will be testing reaction to a rival in the big GT market. However, Winkelmann’s comments in 2010 about the stillborn Estoque indicate that Lamborghini still has an eye on the big four-door market, too.

That said, with the same breath as his support for an Estoque-type car, Winkelmann also suggested that an SUV would be a no-go for Lamborghini.  There was obviously something of a change in thinking between then and 2012, then, when Dan caught up with him and discovered that the Urus had become the company’s biggest priority. By then, it seems, a sedan was out of the picture – the question is, does it remain so?

Urus will be first priority for production

We’ll have to wait to find out. But it should be pointed out that Lamborghini is stressing no production plan for this new reveal – rather, this will be a concept that’ll test public reaction to a front-engined Lambo. It’s the Urus which Lamborghini is hoping to produce first – and while no green light has been given as yet, Winkelmann says that ‘everyone at Lamborghini wants [it] to happen’.

[Source: Autocar]

[ferdi p]

Love the Urus...
Time to put the Evoque up for sale!