Automobili Lamborghini has announced plans to produce only hybrid electric supercars by 2024, becoming the latest sports car producer to shift away from polluting internal combustion engines.
The Italian supercar company announced on Tuesday it was investing €1.5bn (£1.3bn) in hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
The brand, which is owned by Volkswagen, said its current models – Huracan and Aventador sports cars and Urus sport utility vehicles will be hybrids by 2024, and it would launch a new all-electric model by the end of the decade.
“Lamborghini’s electrification plan is a newly-plotted course, necessary in the context of a radically changing world, where we want to make our contribution by continuing to reduce environmental impact through concrete projects,” Automobili Lamborghini’s President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our response is a plan with a 360-degree approach, encompassing our products and our Sant’Agata Bolognese location, taking us towards a more sustainable future while always remaining faithful to our DNA.”
Lamborghini’s roadmap comprises of three phases; the first of which, for 2021 and 2022, see the company remain focused on combustion engine models with two new cars in the V12 model line-up to be announced this year.
The second phase would reflect a “hybrid transition” that would take place by the end of 2024. “In 2023 Lamborghini will launch its first hybrid series production car, and by the end of 2024 the entire range will be electrified,” the company said.
“Performance and the authentic Lamborghini driving experience will remain the focus of the company’s engineers and technicians in developing new technologies, and the application of lightweight carbon fibre materials will be crucial in compensating for weight due to electrification. The company’s internal target for this phase is to reduce product CO2 emissions by 50% by the beginning of 2025,” it added.
The hybrid transition would involve what it called “unprecedented investment” with more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.83 billion) allocated over four years, the largest investment in Lamborghini’s history and one that it said would take place during “a period of profound transformation that is affecting the whole automotive industry.”
Its third and final phase would see the carmaker launch its first fully electric Lamborghini in the second half of the decade.
“The second part of the decade will be dedicated to full-electric vehicles,” the company said, with technological innovation in this phase “oriented towards ensuring remarkable performance, and positioning the new product at the top of its segment.”
The plans put Lamborghini behind its rival Ferrari, which has promised to launch an electric model by 2025.
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