Weekend Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: The year of the bull
Lamborghini’s newest offering, Revuelto, is a two-seater, plug-in hybrid supercar that will replace the Aventador
Thirteen years after unveiling the mighty Aventador, Lamborghini has taken the wraps off its successor, the Revuelto. Like the Aventador, the Revuelto is also powered by a V12 engine and carries on with the brand’s sharp and edgy design theme, although it shares little else with its predecessor.
Revuelto sounds like an Italianised take on “revolution”, which the latest Lamborghini certainly is. But it’s actually named after a famous (and aggressive) Spanish fighting bull.
Founder Feruccio Lamborghini was a Taurean and had a thing for bulls. He attended quite a few bull fights in his lifetime. His fascination with this powerful beast prompted him to make the raging bull the symbol of his sports cars and named many of them (including the Aventador) after bulls.
Lamborghini has had a bull run in the market as well. The Italian super sports car brand, which turns 60 this year, has had a record 2022, with the highest sales ever. And after a US$150 million investment, it’s all set to take the next leap forward with the Revuelto. Lamborghini’s new flagship will be “a halo product for Lamborghini for the next decade,” says the company.
The Revuelto certainly looks the part. It captures all the sharp, edgy and extravagant design DNA of past Lamborghinis, and synthesises them into a shape that will stay contemporary for years. The iconic Y-shaped design signature is retained. The headlight and air intakes are set in massive Y-shaped enclosures, which also house Y-shaped LEDs. The same light signature is also used for the tail lights, which look like a cluster of arrows when lit up.
{{/usCountry}}The Revuelto certainly looks the part. It captures all the sharp, edgy and extravagant design DNA of past Lamborghinis, and synthesises them into a shape that will stay contemporary for years. The iconic Y-shaped design signature is retained. The headlight and air intakes are set in massive Y-shaped enclosures, which also house Y-shaped LEDs. The same light signature is also used for the tail lights, which look like a cluster of arrows when lit up.
{{/usCountry}}The Revuelto gets Lamborghini’s trademark scissor doors, which swing open upwards to the sky with the drama of a futuristic space craft. The scissor doors have defined Lamborghini as a company that makes cars that are exclusive and at the bleeding edge of design, which is why they reserved only for the top-end V12 models. Lesser Lamborghinis like the Urus and Huracan get conventional doors.
The new cabin keeps up the spacecraft impression and is also influenced by the ‘Y’ design theme, which is intended to make the driver feel like a pilot. Born in a digital age, the Revuelto gets not one but three screens, which eliminates most of the physical buttons. But Lamborghini has sensibly retained hard buttons on the steering so you can operate critical functions like the turn signals without having to take your eye off the road.
The Revuelto is roomier than the cramped Aventador and finally gets a wireless charging pad. It’s hard to believe but the Aventador’s cabin didn’t have any place to stow a mobile phone or even a small bottle, basics that are unacceptable to today’s breed of ultra-rich (and pampered) super-car buyers.
The highlight of the Revuelto is certainly its new naturally aspirated 6.5 litre V12 engine and Lamborghini hasn’t downsized the motor to a V8 or less to cut its carbon footprint. Instead, Lamborghini has added a plug-in hybrid system, comprising of three electric motors mated to the engine, to give it a cleaner edge. In fact, you can run the Revuelto on pure electric power for around 13km before the engine kicks in to recharge the small battery pack that sits in the central tunnel inside the cabin. And on early morning drives, your neighbours will be happy that you haven’t woken them up by firing up the V12. You can silently slip out in EV mode.
All this tech comes with a hefty price tag. Expected to cost an eye watering ₹10 crore on road, you need to be a stock market bull to afford this raging bull.
