Lamborghini unveiled the Lanzador electric concept at Monterey Car Week—a vision of a future purely-electric fourth series production Lamborghini. The concept for the fourth model is not just a technical demonstrator but also a refined laboratory on wheels in terms of sustainable materials.

The Lanzador is a preview of the production vehicle that Lamborghini will present in 2028. The series production car based on the fourth model concept will be built in Sant'Agata Bolognese and, to this end, Lamborghini is planning to expand the site and hire additional employees.

The concept car fits in with the Italian super sports company’s “Direzione Cor Tauri” (bull’s heart) strategy and its roadmap towards decarbonization and electrification announced in 2021. Following the presentation of the V12 plug-in hybrid Revuelto (earlier post), the Lanzador gives an insight into the series model to be built from 2028.

With the fourth model concept, we are opening a new car segment: the Ultra GT. This will offer customers a new, unparalleled Lamborghini driving experience thanks to pioneering technologies.

—Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini

A high specific power electric motor on each axle ensures permanent all-electric drive in every condition, surface and driving style and a peak power of over one megawatt. The all-wheel drive also offers active e-torque vectoring on the rear axle for particularly dynamic cornering behavior, extremely finely tuned and adapted for every situation. The energy is provided by a new generation high-performance battery, which also ensures a long range.

For us, electrification does not mean a restriction, but an intelligent opportunity to develop more performance and drivability. Lamborghini will define and differentiate itself in the future through a strategy of all active-control systems. We are taking Lamborghini integrated driving dynamics control to a whole new level, which has not been possible for production sports cars before and offers our customers a completely new driving experience. Finding the right balance between power, performance, range and aerodynamics is certainly one of the biggest challenges during development, but challenge is a cornerstone within Lamborghini R&D.

—Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini's Chief Technical Officer

Three factors and control systems are crucial to the concept car and future Lamborghini vehicles, the company said:

1. Driving Dynamics Control. The newly-developed Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata (LDVI) driving dynamics control system sets a new benchmark for Lamborghini in both the concept car and future production vehicles. Significantly more sensors and actuators will be integrated into the LDVI in the future to create even finer and more precise driving behavior, with crucial innovation not just in the hardware, but also in the control algorithm that manages the components: the more sensors and data fed to the control system, the more refined the algorithm is in delivering the nuances of driving sensations and feedback. This allows the driving character to be more precisely differentiated to the individual driver than ever before: information delivered back to the driver by intelligent sensors positioned behind the new “pilot’s” glass panels mounted at the front of the car, giving a taste of future radar technology.

2. Active Aerodynamics. Active aerodynamics play an even greater role in battery electric vehicles than in super sports cars: active aerodynamics can increase the range per battery charge while also improving performance. Precise downforce for higher cornering speeds and the lowest possible air resistance at top speed can be variably adjusted on the Lanzador, for the best performance in each case. Lamborghini’s future philosophy “Vision of Smart Aerodynamics” is highlighted in the concept car, with the aim of adapting Aero to each driving situation to be consistent with driver requests and range needs.

   Inspired by Lamborghini super sports cars models, the newly-developed smart aerodynamics incorporates the ALA (Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva) system: the well-known technology used in the Huracán Performante and Aventador SVJ, together with new active aero devices in the front and rear to ensure the best efficiency in the concept car’s Urban mode and the best downforce in Performance mode. The future vision for Lamborghini’s ALA system blowing the diffuser is the evidence of the continuous disruptive improvement by Lamborghini R&D to achieve for best aero efficiency and range extension.

   The active aerodynamics system utilizes the front air shutter and a movable splitter, which when deployed opens brake cooling ducts and cooling vanes to achieve the best performance. The S-Duct at the front, together with the concealed louvers for wheelhouse ventilation and the air curtain, improves downforce depending on the mode set: Efficient or Downforce. With the air outlets, Lamborghini prevents the dynamic pressure in the wheel arches from lifting the front of the car at high speeds. The visually concealed louvers therefore provide downforce without creating additional drag. On the 23-inch wheels, the designers combine hexagonal elements with aeroblades to minimize turbulence at the wheels.

   At the rear, depending on the drive mode, narrow airblades extend out of the sides and from the diffuser to improve aerodynamic downforce in conjunction with the flow-through rear blown spoiler. In Efficient mode, the laminar flow is against the body over the full length of the outer skin until it breaks off in a defined way at the rear, and the ALA system is fully functional to increase pressure recuperation to the back, significantly reducing drag and increasing efficiency.

3. Active Suspension. Thanks to an active chassis including a steerable rear axle and air suspension, the Lanzador optimally tunes itself to every road situation or follows the previously defined setting of the driver's style, quickly and directly adjustable during the journey via the controls on the steering wheel.

Torque Distribution. A key advantage of electric sports cars with two motors is the precise torque distribution for enhanced driving dynamics. In the Lamborghini concept, the control element calculates the necessary or desired torque for each axle individually within milliseconds, with the two motors differentiating and serving the left and right sides on the rear axle.

Wheelspeed Control. With Wheelspeed Control, Lamborghini very finely regulates power and force at the individual wheels for even more precise turn-in, and direct as well as fast driving on particularly winding roads and with strong acceleration.

The combination of these systems raises the driving behavior of the concept car to a new level compared to a super sports car with a combustion engine: it is an electric, super-intelligent Ultra GT. With the newly-developed and highly-integrated driving modes, including active controls, Lamborghini increases driving pleasure and performance, and enhances safety and feedback to the pilot.

I am sure that with the concept car and the technology it contains, we will convince loyal, but also tech-forerunner clients, that the new generation of Lamborghini vehicles will open a new chapter in terms of technology, performance, digitalization and driving dynamics.

—Rouven Mohr

Sustainable materials. With the concept car, the designers transferred the company philosophy on sustainable materials to the interiors, which are pioneering while not conceding on look, feel, quality and durability. The concept car demonstrates the parameters of today’s technical possibilities and elevates Lamborghini to a new level of sustainability.

The interior is made almost entirely of sustainable materials, all made in Italy. While the high-end Merino wool (from a B Certified Italian company) dresses the dashboard, seats and door panels, the colored thread is made of recycled material regenerated nylon / recycled plastic and many non-visible plastics, such as the foam of the sports seats, are made of 3D-printed recycled fibers. Even the extensively integrated carbon, such as in the center console and door panels, is made of regenerated carbon: a new, two-layer composite material.

• Sustainably tanned leather. Sustainable leather is leather that is tanned with special water in a particularly environmentally friendly way. The water comes from olive oil production and has to be treated in waste water treatment plants due to its high acidity and antimicrobial and phytotoxic effect. However, this residual water from olive oil production can also be reused by chemical manufacturers to produce tanning agents: the tanning process shares a “Made in Italy” synergy with the production of Italian olive oil.

• 100 percent merino wool. Instead of artificially processed wool, Lamborghini uses wool from Australian Merino sheep. Every year, sheep grow a new fleece, making wool a completely renewable fiber, unlike synthetic fabrics, which are industrially produced from non-renewable fossil energy. It is imported to Europe once a year and by ship, which reduces the carbon footprint. The textile is then made by the only Italian fabric company who received the B-corporation certification. Merino wool is biodegradable, supple and soft to the touch.

• Regenerated carbon. Regenerated carbon is a new approach on composite materials developed by Lamborghini to fit its DNA and sustainability requirement. The new lay-up approach is based on an aesthetic layer (on the visible side) and several inner layers (structural) according to performance requirements. For the aesthetic layer several kinds of fibers are under development including some natural fibers which are interwoven with carbon. This retains the technical properties of carbon, while at the same time reducing the use of carbon fiber. For the inner layers, Lamborghini has worked on core materials such as recycled carbon, which consist of mat of recycled carbon, or alternatively on foam made of recycled PET. In addition, both aesthetical and structural layers are combined with bio-based resin system enhancing the sustainable approach. This application offers maximum freedom in design and personalization alongside good technical performance.

• Synthetic fiber from recycled plastic. Lamborghini uses a new type of synthetic yarn on many components of the concept car, which is partly made from recycled plastic recovered from the oceans: it is finely shredded, washed, dried, pressed under high pressure and processed into thin nylon threads. In the end, these threads end up as regenerated nylon on large rolls for the subsequent production of plastic parts. The big advantage is that the material can always be reused and passes through the production cycle several times: a special kind of resource conservation, meaning that components can be produced without using up new resources. Compared to plastic parts made of petroleum, this is 80% more environmentally friendly.

• 3D Printed Form. A significant aspect of sustainable production and resource saving lies in a new 3D printing process for plastics, such as the foam used in the sports seats. A new printing material for FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) printing is made from recycled waste, such as used plastic bottles. It is a very versatile material and a stable, harmless plastic, ideal as a base material for 3D-printed seat foam due to its good mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance and its ability to be used elegantly and virtually invisibly under seating fabrics. The material can be recycled again after its useful life. The proportion of recycled material can be between 45 and 100 percent, depending on the origin of the waste.

Lamborghini plans to electrify its entire product range by the end of 2024: the company is investing more than €1.9 billion over four years for the conversion to hybrid technology, the largest investment in the history of the Italian brand.