Lamborghini sportscar loses two cylinders, but gains a pair of turbos and an electric motor.
The replacement for the Lamborghini Huracan will feature the most powerful and highest-revving V8 engines yet installed in a production car. Internally codenamed 634, the Huracan successor will use a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 plug-in hybrid powertrain that’ll produce over 900hp of power, but the headlining stat is the 10,000 rpm redline.
- Huracan replacement to have over 900hp from V8 PHEV powertrain
- Electric drivetrain will be markedly different from the Revuelto
- Design will have familiar cues from the V12 flagship
Lamborghini Huracan successor powertrain details
The 634’s combustion engine in its own right will produce 800hp and 730Nm of torque – far more than what was pumped out by the Huracan’s naturally aspirated V10 engine, even in extreme STO guise. But what’s most notable about the new engine is a screaming 10,000rpm – “a figure normally reserved for racing engines”, Lamborghini said.
Indeed, that figure will make this the highest-revving V8 fitted to any current production car. In fact, only a handful of road-going hypercars – including the Mercedes-AMG One, GMA T50 and Aston Martin Valkyrie – have engines that spin faster. The Lamborghini Urus also uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, but while that is an Audi-developed lump shared with various Porsche, Bentley and Audi RS models, the 634’s powerplant is said to be all-new and developed entirely in Sant’Agata.
Lamborghini said a “crucial element of the design process was to define the sound” of the new engine. It will work in tandem with a slimline, lightweight, axial-flux electric motor integrated ahead of the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, which sends up to 150hp and 300Nm to the rear axle.
Lamborghini hasn’t given a total combined power output, but it’s likely to be somewhere north of 900hp. The 634’s drivetrain is markedly different to that of the Revuelto, which has two electric motors on the front axle and one in the gearbox, although the 634 is expected to also have its small-capacity traction battery housed in the transmission tunnel in the name of compact packaging and optimal weight distribution.
The move to a PHEV system has significant implications for the dynamic behaviour of the Hurácan’s replacement. “The package itself is much better than a normal ICE car”, said Lamborghini sales and marketing boss Federico Foschini to our sister publication Autocar UK. “There are characteristics that you cannot achieve if you don’t have an electric motor [such as active torque vectoring]; it gives you the opportunity to leverage even more on the potential of the engine.”
Lamborghini Huracan successor design and underpinnings
Visually, the new supercar will be clearly related to the flagship Revuelto. It will have a dramatic silhouette that adheres to head of design Mitja Borkert’s ‘spaceship’ ethos, as well as a raft of cues that have become Lamborghini hallmarks, including a gaping hexagonal exhaust, Y-shaped LED light designs and prominent air channels throughout the body to boost downforce.
The basic principles of the ‘monofuselage’ carbonfibre monocoque introduced with the Revuelto are also expected to be carried over. However, the abundance of expensive composites used in the flagship supercar’s structure are unlikely to be shared by the junior model.
Instead, it’s set to use cheaper aluminium where possible, without incurring a major penalty to rigidity, in line with its more entry-level billing. The rear subframe is already aluminium on the Revuelto, but the front end could follow suit on the junior supercar, for instance. The platform will also be shortened to visually distinguish the new car from the 4947mm-long Revuelto. For reference, the run-out Huracán Tecnica is 4567mm long.
Lamborghini will build the Huracán successor on the same production line as the Revuelto. It will be the first time that the brand has built both of its supercars in series, on the same line – facilitated, no doubt, by the sharing of major architectural and electrical components.
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