Lamborghini SpA is holding off for now on making its roaring sports cars fully electric, as skepticism around the technology grows.
While performance would not be an issue in an electric vehicle, some emotional aspects — such as the sound of the Huracan’s V10 engine — cannot be replicated, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann said.
The Volkswagen AG-owned brand also remains open to use e-fuels if regulation becomes more favorable, he said.
Photo: Remo Casilli, Reuters
Fully electric sports supercars “is not something that is selling so far,” Winkelmann said in an interview.
“It’s too early, and we have to see down the road if and when this is going to happen,” Winkelmann added.
It is a tense time in the high-end automotive sector, which is deliberating on how to deal with the regulatory pressure to lower emissions, as demand for electric vehicles slows and governments scale back subsidies for the technology.
Mercedes-Benz Group AG has stopped development of separate underpinnings for electric luxury sedans to save money and plans to sell vehicles running on gasoline longer than expected.
Lamborghini’s rival, Ferrari NV, is further along in its electrification push.
Next month, it plans to open a factory that would make hybrid and electric supercars in Maranello, Italy.
Its first fully electric model is due next year.
BYD Co (比亞迪) has beaten both to the punch after unveiling a 1.68 million yuan (US$236,910) electric sports car in February.
The Yangwang U9 would initially be sold only in China, where Lamborghini’s exposure is “limited,” Winkelmann said.
Lamborghini has had success selling plug-in hybrids, including the Revuelto sports car, but its first fully electric model — the two-door Lanzador crossover — would not arrive until 2028.
Still, the company is overhauling its supply chain and production to produce Lamborghinis with 40 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, Winkelmann said.
When it comes to synthetic fuels, the brand is benefiting from work at Porsche, another luxury auto maker in Volkswagen’s portfolio.
E-fuels could come into greater focus in two years, when the EU reviews its plan to effectively ban new combustion engine car sales by 2035.
“There might be an opportunity if things change,” Winkelmann said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS