Lamborghini LB744: first official details of the Aventador successor
The V12 lives! Lamborghini’s new flagship supercar will be a plug-in hybrid, powered by three motors and a 6.5-litre V12
The V12 lives! Lamborghini’s new flagship supercar will be a plug-in hybrid, powered by three motors and a 6.5-litre V12
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After months of speculation and test mule sightings, Lamborghini has announced the first official details for its next generation flagship supercar. Set to be revealed in full at the end of this month, the model, codenamed LB744, will launch as the Aventador’s successor, featuring a combination of a 6.5-litre V12 engine and three electric motors.
Yes, Lamborghini’s V12 lineage lives on and it remains naturally aspirated, revving to a heady 9500rpm. The 6.5-litre unit (codenamed L545) is related to that of the Aventador, thoroughly re-engineered with new castings, exhaust routing, valve gear and many more revisions besides. Not least because it has been rotated through 180 degrees compared with the Aventador and its post-Miura forebears.
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Directly behind the engine is a new, transversely-mounted, in-house developed double-clutch eight-speed transmission, which incorporates one of the three electric motors mounted directly above. That motor also functions as both the starter motor and a generator, with the LB744’s other two motors part of its front e-axle – more on which shortly.
The engine is considered the lightest and most powerful Lamborghini production V12 yet, tipping the scales at 218kg (17kg less than the Aventador’s engine) and generating 814bhp at 9250rpm. As a benchmark, the final, most powerful Aventador iteration, the Ultimae, produced 770bhp at 8500rpm (and 531lb ft of torque to the LB744’s 535lb ft). Combine this new peak figure with the boost from its trio of electric motors and total output comes to a Ferrari SF90-beating 1001bhp.
The LB744 is a plug-in hybrid, though Lamborghini prefers to label it a HPEV, for high-performance electrified vehicle, rather than using the PHEV term. Whereas the 2019 Lamborghini Sian V12 hybrid stored its energy in a supercapacitor, the LB744 has a more capacious lithium-ion battery set-up – packaged in a longitudinal, 1550mm-long oblong in the middle of the car (ordinarily the transmission tunnel), its position ensures both protection for the pack in the event of an impact and optimum weight distribution.
Although the LB744 can be plugged in to charge the battery (in just 30 minutes from empty, Lamborghini states), the engine can recharge the battery directly in six minutes, with regenerative energy from the front axle also able to contribute to a charge.
The two electric motors at the front weigh 18.5kg apiece and generate 258lb ft of torque each. Lamborghini is particularly excited about the torque vectoring capability they enable, with the motors eliminating the need for the use of brakes for vectoring. The front wheels are powered solely by the motors, with no prop shaft connecting the engine to the front axle.
The LB744 will include fully electric driving modes, offering pure electric drive to all four wheels even in reverse. In its most energy-efficient electric mode, it uses the front wheels only, with the rear electric motor activated based on demand.
The LB744 continues the mid-engined Lamborghini V12 supercar dynasty begun with the Miura in 1966 and continued with the Countach, Diablo, Murcielago and Aventador since. The model’s full name will be announced when the car is revealed in its entirety on March 29."
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