Lamborghini and Bugatti boss wants the combustion engine around 'as long as possible'

Sunday, 13 December 2020

The head of Lamborghini and Bugatti has gone on the record in saying he wants the internal combustion engine to stick around “as long as possible.”

Talking to Top Gear, Stephan Winkelmann’s reasoning is simple. Lamborghini and Bugatti are low-volume manufacturers, and therefore don’t create as much stress on the environment as a more mass-production brand. That’s despite the fact that neither brand build an engine with fewer than eight cylinders.

He went on to say that Bugatti owners barely drive their cars, with the average annual distance driven by a Chiron being around 1600km. Seems kind of pointless to me, cars are made to be driven, but to each their own…

Despite Bugatti investing in making awesome go-fast machinery like the Chiron Pur Sport here, the company’s boss says the annual distance driven by a Bugatti is around 1600km.

Anyway, those waiting for an all-electric Lamborghini or Bugatti will be kept on tenterhooks a while longer. Winkelmann said neither marque will debut a Porsche Taycan competitor until at least next decade. Apparently, EV tech isn’t ready in terms of charging times and performance. There are also extra cost and legislation issues to consider as well.

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The Lamborghini Sian is the firm's first attempt at a hybrid, and it’s pretty damn impressive.

* BMW cutting combustion powertrains in half

* Aston Martin to replace V8 with hybrid V6

* It's official: a Porsche is a better investment than a house

* Upcoming Lamborghini Urus will have plug-in hybrid option

Lamborghini is a bit closer than Bugatti though, having dabbled in hybrid power with its Sian FKP 37, a naturally aspirated V12-powered supercar tapping into electric assistance via the use of supercapacitors.

It’s very high-tech and very fast as a result, its hybrid powertrain making 611kW, enough to push the car to 100kmh in 2.8 seconds. It also costs 2.5 million euros and you can’t buy one any more, because production was limited to 63 units and they all sold instantly.

The successor to the Aventador will also use an electrified V12 engine but it probably won’t use the supercapacitors of the Sian, instead opting for a more typical battery setup to save some money. There’s no official word on the model just yet but rumour has it we could see it around the 2022 mark.