It might not have an engine, if some are to be believed.
It seems that Italian supercar marque Lamborghini has something up its sleeves, with a concept car slated to debut next week that previews some of the technology they’ve been working on together with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as part of its “pursuit of new materials.”
The teaser image you see here was circulated by one Jonny Lieberman, the very funny and very bearded editor at American publication Motor Trend, who took to Instagram to sort-of share as much as he could about the upcoming Lamborghini.
“I'm not sure exactly what I'm allowed to say about this new Lamborghini concept being shown at MIT. So, we already know about Lamborghini's pursuit of new materials, so that's one prong. The other is the engine, or lack there of. Batteries? Not quite. Vague enough? I just don't want to be told to delete this post. That said, look for this design to preview the Aventador's replacement. My buddy and head of Lambo design, Mitja Borkner, is hard at work on the next V12 Lamborghini. I told him that he'll know it's right when he shows the new car to his 4-year-old son, and the kid jumps in the air screaming and clapping. This gets revealed on Monday.” — Jonny Lieberman, Senior Editor, Motor Trend
There isn’t much to be gleaned from the sole image that Jonny’s shared, aside from the fact that Lamborghini’s signature Y-shaped signature running lights are about to get mega-sized and reimagined here. It looks low-slung, as expected from a Lamborghini, and (as mentioned above) acts as a precursor to the next-generation V12 supercar that will supersede the Aventador. If you squint, you may just make out three distinct slots in the splitter, which means we may see the marque’s ‘Aerodynamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA) active aerodynamics system that we first saw on the Huracan Performante make an appearance here.
Previous reports by various publications have confirmed that Sant’Agata is working with MIT as they develop a hybrid powertrain solution for the next-generation Huracan. Expected to hit the road in 2022, the next-generation sports car is rumoured to pack solid-state batteries, which will be the first utilisation of this technology by the Volkswagen Group.
The concept car being teased here is also likely to be used as a platform to display Lamborghini’s latest breakthroughs in lightweight composite material, similar to the trend set by the Sesto Elemento concept. And while this car may preview truly radical design, comments made in the past by former Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann suggests that this car might see the light of day in limited numbers if enough people express interest, just like what’s happened with the marque’s other one-off specials.
For more information on Lamborghini, check out our Showroom.
