Lamborghini Revuelto is 1000bhp PHEV Aventador replacement

The long-awaited successor to the Lamborghini Aventador arrives as the Italian marque’s first step into the electric age – albeit with the bulk of the Revuelto’s 1000bhp being drawn from a new 6.5-litre V12 powerplant.

The firm’s maiden plug-in hybrid supercar, originally codenamed LB744, is therefore the most potent Lamborghini in the car maker’s history and it delivers some eye-watering numbers: 2.5sec 0-62mph, sub-7.0sec 0-124mph and a top speed of more than 217mph.

This is down to a trio of 147bhp electric motors – one integrated into the gearbox and a pair at the front, one powering each wheel – that supplement the 814bhp V12.

Keeping this V12 was a battle, given the Volkswagen Group’s widespread move to downsizing and turbocharging, according to Lamborghini’s former chief technical officer, Maurizio Reggiani, who led the early development of the Revuelto.

Yet it was one that Lamborghini was able to win due to both overwhelming support from existing customers and the use of hybridisation to cut emissions.

Driving an all-new eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox mounted behind it, the new engine – turned 180deg compared with the Aventador's – is 17kg lighter than the one in the car it replaces but makes more power, delivering 814bhp at a searing 9250rpm, with the limiter not calling time until 250rpm later.

The battery pack sits in what would previously have been considered the transmission tunnel and stores a modest 3.8kWh of charge - good for an electric-only range of around six miles. The fact that the charging port is within the front luggage compartment suggests it is not intended to be plugged in very often.

However, the V12 can directly recharge the battery pack through the rear motor in a process that's claimed to take just six minutes.

The pack is much lighter than most batteries, weighing 70kg, with the front motors adding another 80kg of mass. Fuel economy and CO2 figures haven’t been finalised, but Lamborghini says both will be around 30% better than the Aventador Ultimae's.

The battery’s peak flow rate is the limiting factor on electrical assistance, with a maximum of 140kW equating to 187bhp. Each of the three motors can take up to 147bhp, allowing the battery’s output to be juggled accordingly - and with torque biasing across the front axle.

The rear electric motor adds assistance to one shaft in the dual-clutch gearbox, meaning it is possible for the two sides of the Revuelto’s powertrain to be driving different gears simultaneously.

Like the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 and Countach LPI 800-4 hyper-hybrids, as well as the Ferrari SF90, the Revuelto will reverse under electrical power only, but has the ability to drive all four wheels.

The Revuelto will be heavier than the Aventador, despite weight savings throughout the structure. The new car’s carbonfibre tub is both lighter and 40% stiffer than the last generation's and now features a composite front crash structure - a world first in a road car.

But the bulk of the hybrid system means that overall mass is still higher. Lamborghini hasn’t released a formal kerb weight, but the promise of a power-to-weight ratio of 563bhp per tonne puts it at 1776kg.

Underneath, the Aventador’s pushrod-operated suspension has been replaced by conventional upright springs for the twin wishbones at each corner. Lamborghini CTO Rouven Mohr says the new arrangement has packaging advantages and improvements in damper technology have allowed equal performance from conventional mountings.

The Revuelto will also get standard rear-axle steering plus active aerodynamic elements. There isn’t an official figure for peak downforce but we’re told it will be about the same as the Aventador SVJ made with its adjustable wing in its lowest-drag configuration.

The car's design draws on many familiar Lamborghini themes and keeps the trademark wedgy proportions that stretch back to the Countach. But there is lots of innovation, too - from the compact LED headlights that sit beneath the overhang of the bonnet to the deliberately visible radar sensors integrated into the front grille.

The side profile is defined by the huge air intakes behind the front-hinged doors, but there is also a new channel above these, under buttress-style wing elements. Lines at the rear are kept clean by a deployable spoiler and the engine is visible through an aperture in the carbonfibre rear bonnet.

The interior is more spacious and much more high-tech than the Aventador’s. The Revuelto gets a reconfigurable letterbox-shaped 9.1in passenger-side display screen to supplement its digital instruments and portrait-orientated 8.4in central touchscreen. 

Most driving controls are integrated into the steering wheel, with separate controls for the dynamic and powertrain modes. The cabin also has far more oddment space than any of its predecessors and this will be the first Lamborghini supercar to come with pop-out Porsche-style cupholders.

The Revuelto’s early success is guaranteed: the first two years of production are already sold, according to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we’re told that even in its launch guise, the Revuelto will cost more than the Aventador SVJ. 

Lamborghini has also confirmed the same core architecture and electric AWD system will underpin the Lamborghini Huracán’s replacement, but that car is set to trade the outgoing V10 for a twin-turbocharged V8.