The world’s first hybrid Lamborghini was launched just ahead of the Paris Motor show 2014. The Raging Bull is not known for frequent rolling out of the concepts but this time the new concept signifies the changing dimensions of the auto world. The newly launched car is called the Lamborghini Asterion LPI910-4 Concept. The car has a hybrid technology used as the power source i.e, the car is driven by electric as well as a conventional Internal Combustion roaring Lamborghini engine.
Keeping in mind the nomenclature usually used for the cars from Sant’Agata the name gives out a lot of the specs related to the car. In the name, LP stands for Longitudinal Posterior i.e, a mid engine supercar , I is for “Ibrido” this Italian word means half-cast or hybrid, the 910 tells the horse power included in the package while the 4 is for the all-wheel drive(hybrid mode) of the car. Coming to the name “Asterion” this is another name used for the mythical character Minotaur who is said to be a half-bull and half-man.
The car has a total capacity of 910 hp the 610 hp of this comes from the naturally aspirated, longitudinally mounted, 602-hp 5.2-liter V-10 engine and the rest 300 hp is produced by a trio of electric motors. The gas-fired power source is similar to the one used in Lamborghini-Huracan. The hybrid mode driving of the car is 4 wheel irrespective of the contribution of the electric part of the powertrain. While in case of full electric mode the car drive shifts to two wheel drive where the front wheels provide the propulsion. In the hybrid mode the 0-100 kmph sprint takes 3 secs. Thus the new launch makes a hybrid the most powerful Lamborghini.
The car manufacturers claim a 50 km of drive solely on the electric power once the battery is full charged. The electric only mode will give a top speed of 125 kmph and the hybrid mode will give a 320 kmph of top speed owing to its 897 hp produced in the Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) engine. The car is an emblematic Raging Bull having every usual Lamborghini specs high power and high style.
Talking of the looks the car borrows an inspiration in the looks department form the 1965 Miura, if you notice the front large deck. The gearbox used it the car is a 7-speeds dual clutch gearbox which is also used in Huracan. Though the car borrows the conventional engine and transmission from the Huracan but the Lamborghini’s Aventador lends its carbon-fibre monocoque to the hybrid.
The car is yet not decided to enter the production stage but the launch signifies a lot including the hybrids to be a front line models for the manufacturers in near future. The car has style and retro-modern looks but what counts is the powerful drive which will set a whole new outlook for the emerging category.
