By the time you are reading this, Linea Aventador at the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata, Bologna, Italy will have stopped building the flagship V12, production of the Aventador was halted already, but an unfortunate accident with a transport ship carrying several of the limited edition Aventador LP780-4 Ultimae forced them to start up production again to make up for the lost units at sea, and while the Sian, Sian Roadster and Countach LPI 800-4 are all based on the Aventador chassis, those limited editions models are all but built too, so I’m sure Lamborghini is preparing the Linea Aventador for the successor over the coming Summer months to start the ‘pre-production’ run to make sure all the tooling is up to spec for the successor.
Right now, the brand new Lamborghini flagship test mules have all been built separately from the regular assembly line, out of sight of peeking eyes of visitors to the factory, and while I’m sure the first tests with the new V12 hybrid engine were done hiding in an Aventador shell, by now we’re finally getting to see the Aventador successor test mule being road-tested, and CarScoops.com just managed to get hold of some amazing high-res images of this new Raging Bull, and while she’s wearing the typical ‘swirly’ camouflage wrap, some of the design elements can be clearly recognized now.
There is a lot to discuss on the exterior of this new Lamborghini model, which might be called the Revuelto, as this name has been recently trademarked by Lamborghini, but personally, I’m most impressed by the rear of this test mule, personally, I just love the position of those quad exhaust tips, high up on the rear section, in between Y-shaped taillights that seem to have been inspired by both the Veneno and the Centenario, and if you look really close to these spy shots, I’m thinking that section above the taillights can actually move upward, like an adjustable rear wing.
I really like the Lamborghini test driver’s sense of humor, putting a decal of the Aventador taillights over the camouflage of this test mule, but it’s clear this car comes with an intricate rear diffuser, with lower sections covering the rear wheels, unlike on the Centenario where debris is easily kicked up from the wide wheels onto the clear carbon fiber diffuser, on this prototype it seels they wanted to avoid that while still allowing some massive airflow in the center of the rear fascia.
There are some warning labels to be found on this test mule, above the exhaust pipes there is a warning, probably about the heat, but the most interesting is the electricity warning label on the side of this new Lamborghini, the photo doesn’t have enough resolution to be able to read it, but I’m sure it’s a warning about the batteries or the charging plug being in that vicinity, keep in mind we are talking about a V12 engine with a hybrid setup, so there are electric motors and batteries to be fitted, during an interview about the Sian they clearly stated the production car wouldn’t use a Supercapacitor, but go for more traditional batteries instead.
Another interesting detail we can see in these new spy shots is the fact Lamborghini seems to be going for a Flying Buttress design behind the side windows, probably to direct air onto the newly designed engine cover, with vents on either side and what seems to be a rather small rear window, I’m sure this new Lamborghini flagship will come with a rear-view camera system, perhaps even a 360-degree one to ease parking this wide and low supercar, or will the new Lamborghini venture into the hypercar market?
There is an ongoing discussion about what makes a hypercar instead of a supercar, some go for the power output, others quote the price, but I guess it’s a combination of things, so the new Lamborghini flagship might very well become a hypercar when we consider horsepower, let’s think about this for a second, the outgoing Aventador Ultimae came with 780 hp from the NA V12 engine, we all know that this new flagship will come with a newly developed V12 engine, so power output could be even higher … or not, with the Aventador having a 6.5-Liter V12, there is nothing holding Lamborghini back to create a smaller displacement V12 unit to safe space and weight, something the hybrid addition will eagerly eat into.
If we consider the Asterión for comparison, that car came with three electric motors, each capable of delivering 100 hp, so to reach a total power output of over 1,000 hp, Lamborghini only has to get this new V12 engine to deliver slightly over 700hp if they go for a three-motor setup, add an electric motor to each of the front wheels, and have the V12 power the rear wheels with the third electric motor positioned as on the Sian and Countach LPI 800-4 … that would make sense I think.
If I’m honest, I quite like the styling on this test mule, if the new Lamborghini V12 Hybrid looks like this, I’m sure she’ll be another successful model, a worthy heir to the Aventador, and a strong competitor for other supercars and hypercars out there, and let’s not forget that the Aventador drew as much attention as any hypercar, but for a fraction of the cost, and I’m confident the Lamborghini Revuelto, or whatever they will call this 2023 flagship, will do exactly the same thing … draw attention, as a Lamborghini should.
