Parent company Volkswagen Group may be investing more than $100 billion in bringing electric vehicles to market, but its supercar brand Lamborghini isn’t sold.
The niche automaker is awaiting direction from the European Union before deciding whether to go all in on EVs, according to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann.
Even as other automakers plan to jettison gas-engine models by 2030, Winkelmann said he can’t yet foresee Lamborghini as an all-electric brand. The automaker is waiting to see if synthetic fuels, also used by sister company Porsche, could be a carbon-neutral alternative to battery-electric vehicles.
“It’s a bit difficult, because the European Parliament decided earlier in the year that they will ban gas engines and diesel engines by 2035, and the smaller manufacturers like Lamborghini by 2036, so we don’t need to decide now,” Winkelmann said. “We still have the opportunity maybe to go into synthetic fuel with those type of cars, but this means that there must be a change in the legislation which I cannot foresee right now.”
“If this is not going to happen, we will be fully electric by the latest beginning the 2030s,” he added.
For now, the brand has no plans to give up on gasoline. Lamborghini plans to launch the Huracan Sterrato, a bulky, off-road version of its V10-powered coupe, later this year. Lamborghini’s first EV is slated for 2028.
Even though most of the automotive industry has been stymied by a semiconductor chip shortage, Lamborghini said it closed a record six months, partly due to its position in the Volkswagen family. The brand sold 5,090 vehicles worldwide for the first half of 2022, a 30.6% rise over the year ago period.
The global shortage increased Lamborghini’s costs and lengthened delivery times, but hasn’t affected the brand’s manufacturing operations, Winkelmann said.
“We are low volume and high margin, so we get priority in terms of the semiconductor supply from the Group,” Winkelmann said. “So far, we can manage it and we are not losing production.”
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