\u201cThe sun is really dangerous!\u201d Rouven Mohr said as we ducked into some shade behind Lamborghini\u2019s booth at The Quail, a Monterey Car Week event filled with some of the world\u2019s most deep-pocketed buyers. Just a few feet away, surrounded by a crowd of hundreds, was the company\u2019s just-unveiled Temerario super sports car, emerald paint gleaming in the California sun. Mohr, Lamborghini\u2019s CTO since 2022, has an infectious grin breaking through the extra layer of sunscreen he\u2019s just applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your baby, and then to see it for the first time on the stage, it\u2019s always special,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your baby, and then to see it for the first time on the stage, it\u2019s always special.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The car\u2019s development began four and a half years ago, kicking into high gear 36 months ago ahead of its debut this past weekend. The Temerario replaces the decade-old Hurac\u00e1n<\/a>, Lamborghini\u2019s outgoing V10 super sports car. Over the years, it has been upgraded numerous times, gaining power, handling, and technology along the way, but the new Temerario makes it look remedial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Though the Temerario steps down to a 4.0-liter V8, it adds a pair of turbochargers. That configuration sounds a bit like the Audi-sourced engine inside the company\u2019s Urus SUV<\/a>, but Mohr is adamant that this is unrelated. \u201cIt is totally new,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is nothing, not any part to do with the V8 of the Urus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lamborghini developed this new engine to do two things: rev to 10,000rpm and sound amazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The result is a car with a distinct spine-tingling scream when driven hard. But the feel of the engine is also unique. \u201cWhen you drive the car at the beginning, you tend to shift up much too early because you have a lot of torque. But if you rev it up, to be honest, you feel it\u2019s a kind of explosion because the torque is still there that in a naturally aspirated one you don\u2019t have,\u201d Mohr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Adding turbochargers might add torque, but they don\u2019t necessarily increase the fun factor. The engine relies on turbos that Mohr called \u201chuge.\u201d Big turbos make big power but often result in a lag between putting your foot on the accelerator and the forward surge of the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s where the hybrid system comes in. The Temerario has three axial flux electric motors. A pair live on the front axle, one driving each front wheel. The third is directly connected to the crankshaft of the new V8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The total system output is 907 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque, up from 631 horsepower and 417 pound-feet in the outgoing Hurac\u00e1n. The combined output of the hybrid system alone is 295 horsepower, or about the same as a single-motor Polestar 2<\/a>. The Temerario accelerates from zero to 62mph in 2.7 seconds, with a top speed of over 210mph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On paper, it\u2019s an architecture similar to Lamborghini\u2019s other hybrid, the 1,001 horsepower Revuelto<\/a>. In fact, Mohr said the dual-motor front axle setup is exactly the same as the Revuelto\u2019s, as is the 3.8kWh battery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the differing characteristics of the two cars mean less software sharing between them than you might think. \u201cThe basic strategy is the same, but the application is a completely different one because the weight distribution is different, the track, the wheelbase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The total system output is 907 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, the Temerario shares many of the Revuelto\u2019s high-performance tricks, like using the hybrid system for traction control.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Imagine accelerating too hard out of a corner. In your overexuberance, the rear wheels start to spin. Rather than the traction control reducing power to maintain grip, as on a normal car, the Temerario will increase regen on that rear electric motor. The motor then converts that extra power from the V8 into charge for the battery while simultaneously keeping you from spinning into a ditch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Temerario looks brilliant sitting in the sun at Lamborghini\u2019s booth, but something is missing this year: the all-electric Lanzador<\/a> concept that debuted last year. It was a bit of an odd thing, a tall coupe with SUV-like proportions and an unconventional design that was a throwback to the company\u2019s earlier four-seat coupes like the Espada of the \u201960s or the Jarama of the \u201970s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Though it\u2019s just a concept, it was said to be a preview of an eventual production EV, and Mohr said its development is still actively underway. \u201cOn this, we are still full-throttle working,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Temerario shares many of the Revuelto\u2019s high-performance tricks<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The target for the release of the Lanzador is sometime toward the end of the decade, but Mohr said that timeframe isn\u2019t just a question of engineering. \u201cIt depends a little bit also on the market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In other words, Lamborghini is waiting for the EV market to stabilize. Mohr said that high depreciation rates on premium EVs<\/a> have product planners scared. Residual values are key for cars costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unlike your average SUV, these extremely rare cars often gain value as soon as they roll off the dealership lot. Many owners literally bank on that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A Lamborghini EV that quickly loses value would be unacceptable. \u201cIn some regions of the world, the people are a little bit scared about the residual values and all the things that are important for us,\u201d Mohr said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n