The Lamborghini LB744 will be fitted with a transversly mounted 8-speed DCT gearbox.
Lamborghini has released the first set of details about its much-awaited Aventador-replacing supercar. This new model, codenamed Lamborghini LB744, will come with an all-new V12 engine.
- Lamborghini LB744 to come with 6.5-litre V12
- New engine good for 1,000hp
- Emits 30 percent lower CO2 than Aventador Ultimae
Lamborghini LB744: new V12 engine details
The new Lamborghini LB744’s V12 engine will be supplemented by three electric motors, producing a combined 1,000hp – making it the most potent Lambo yet made. The Lamborghini LB744 ushers in a new electrification era for the Italian marque, while also allowing its signature V12 engine to “live on”, rather than being killed off by increasingly strict emissions regulations.
This new, lighter 6.5-litre V12 is key to the PHEV’s performance, said Lamborghini, which has also paid significant attention to the way it sounds. The engine weighs in at 218kg, 17kg less than the Aventador’s V12, while still producing 824hp at 9,250rpm and 725Nm at 6,750rpm.
This allows the three 18.5kg motors – two driving the front axle, and one gearbox-mounted driving the rear – to be fitted with minimal impact of weight (a total figure is yet to be given), and therefore performance, with a combined output of 1000hp.
The unit also emits 30 percent lower CO2 emissions than the Aventador Ultimae’s 779hp powerplant. Those motors also boost low-end torque, with 385Nm immediately available. Although acceleration figures have yet to be confirmed, this will give the LB744 blistering off-line speed, likely with numbers close to the special-edition Lamborghini Veneno, which can hit 100kph from standing in just 2.9sec.
Lamborghini LB744: also gets PHEV tech
The LB744 even has the ability to run solely on electric power, driving the front wheels when cruising, and all four wheels when the power is asked for (depending on drive mode). However, given the battery’s small size, EV range isn’t expected to be more than five miles. As this battery takes up the room normally used by the gearbox, a new smaller one was developed.
Electric power is drawn from a 3.8kWh lithium-ion battery, mounted within the transmission tunnel to keep the car’s centre of gravity as low as possible. It can be charged either through an external 7kW current, which takes 30 minutes, or by a combination of regenerative braking and the petrol engine, which Lamborghini claims takes as little as six minutes.
Lamborghini LB744: gearbox
The LB744’s compact eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission – which measures just 56cm long and 75cm wide and weighs 193kg – is positioned behind the V12, also aiding weight distribution. The LB744 will be only the second Lamborghini road-going car to be fitted with a transversely mounted gearbox, after the iconic Miura of 1966.
Lamborghini LB744: hybrid tech
It uses a different set-up to limited-run Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 and Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 hyper-hybrids, which had a supercapacitor in a mild-hybrid system, boosting power without the ability to run on electricity alone, barring in reverse gear – a trait the LB744 adopts.
More details will be released on the Aventador’s replacement in the coming weeks, but it will be “completely new from the ground up”, chief technical officer Rouven Mohr previously told sister publication, Autocar UK.
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