Credit where it's due to Lamborghini, it does know how to create some hype and excitement around a supercar. The Veneno was launched on an
aircraft carrier in Dubai, the Aventador SV did that
Nurburgring lap and then the
Huracan Performante did, well, that other
Nurburgring lap. There's never an excuse for not hearing about the new cars, put it that way.
The Huracan Performante Spyder is the latest, following previous go-fast Gallardos in offering both a drop-top and a coupe version. Aficionados will of course know that previous Superleggera Spyders were called Performantes, so the name is familiar from there and we would expect it to be used again.
Back then the cars carried over as much from the coupes as possible, so expect that to be the case again. V10 up to 640hp, a bit less weight, even more noise. Where the Spyder may struggle is in adapting the coupe's very advanced active aero technology, what with the roof being able to move and all that. Still, the spoilers both front and rear looks very similar, so here's hoping that it can be incorporated into the Spyder.
Moreover, the Lamborghini Forged Composite (the carbon that looks like it's from a footballer's kitchen but is actually very clever and can be used for complex shapes) could do with being used even more extensively in this Huracan. It takes 40kg from the coupe, for a dry weight of 1,382kg. But the
standard Roadster is 120kg more than a regular LP610-4, or 160kg more than a Performante, at 1,542kg dry. Quite a lot really, even with 40kg taken out for 1,502kg. The Performante may well be more about outright performance than reducing mass like the old Superleggeras, though there are one or two things to gain from less weight... Let's see what they can conjure up.
Otherwise it's familiar from the Performante from what we can see with the new exhaust design and rear diffuser, though this car is still using the standard Huracan wheels. Our spy photographers are suggesting the Performante Roadster will be a 2018 model, so expect to see the car at a motor show later this year or early next. There's an LA show at the end of November where it would fit in just nicely...
[Photos: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien]
