Welcome to Testing the Lamborghini Lanzador. Yes, testing a prototype might not make much sense, but we are talking about Lamborghini’s first electric car. Is it an SUV? A lifted supercar? It’s something new that will hit dealerships in 2028 and now we’ve gotten behind the wheel.
Surely the car will be unrecognizable when it goes into production, right?
Apparently not, because the Launcher design is almost ready for production. For all those still mourning the 2008 Estoque prototype, sorry, it’s a reduced feature, according to the CEO Stephan Winklemann.
GTs and SUVs are versatile, so why not combine them to create something that appeals to supercar lovers while reaching a new generation of younger, tech-savvy customers. You have to admit, it makes a lot of business sense.
Does the concept work personally?
If you had described the idea to me before seeing it up close, I would have wrinkled my nose and sighed. Of course, standing next to him, everything is drama. It’s more of a stretched, high-heel Revuelto than a squished Urus, so we thought photographing it in motion, on a real road, might help convey the proportions. better.
In addition to this, the seating position, exterior view and interior architecture are a new beginning for Lambo. Why not experience them first hand, with the very pleasant scene that passed quickly and the Lamborghini technical director, Rouven Mohr, sitting in the passenger seat? Meanwhile, the Head of design, Mitja Borkert sitting in the back.
How does the Lamborghini Lanzador drive?
There are all obvious things about prototypes. For example, there are big 23-inch wheels that rub the arches when you turn hard, giving you a turning radius that makes a cruiser look like a London taxi.
Also, it’s not a fast car: They told me not to exceed 30 km/h I reached 50 km/h and the brakes felt like a child’s bike, there was too much play in the steering wheel and every grain of sand that hit the arches echoed around the cabin as if a tire had fallen off… However, there were other things that can be known.
The sense of light and space from the slightly raised seating position, the three glass panels above and the windscreen are nice things and visibility is excellent. Inside too, with floating planks and fresh air underneath, creating space to move and breathe… In addition to storing your things, of course.
she Lamborghini Lanzador interior This is perhaps the most radical part. There is no central screen, but two screens for the driver behind the steering wheel and one for the passenger on the dashboard. They can be folded up and out of the way, in a nod to the Countach’s retractable headlights.
With this, the control dial looks like something out of BMW iDrive, but rotates 90 degrees, although it works better than it seems. The rear seats have less space than in an Urus, but enough for adults. Finally, the boot floor, which can be raised electrically to match the height of the folded rear seats, is ready for the lifestyle …
Any technical details for the production car?
Strange, yes. The launcher has two electric motors, one on each axle, and produce “more than one megawatt of power”, about 1,370 HP. It has rear-wheel steering, air suspension and a “new generation high-performance battery, which also guarantees long autonomy.” How much?: We suspect between 560 and 640 km.
The new platform will be shared with other high-end electric cars from the VW Group, but specifically with Lamborghini, which will open up a world of possibilities, says Mohr:
“We have taken Lamborghini’s Integrated Driving Dynamics Control to a completely new level, which has never been done before for production sports cars,” he said, referring to the newly developed Driving Dynamics Control. Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata (LDVI).
Translated into non-engineering language: there are more sensors than ever working overtime and talking to each other faster to ensure precise vehicle handling control. The system can vary the torque between the front and rear axles in milliseconds, while the ‘active e-torque’ can distribute it between the two rear wheels.
Any other tricks up your sleeve?
A lot. One of the four driving mode dials on the steering wheel in this electric car controls the “intelligent pilot”, a new way of thinking about traction, ESC and slip angle control.
It’s not just about limiting or allowing a certain amount of slip, but you can dictate how much you want your tire to over-spin, turning less talented drivers into tire kings. drift. Then there is the paddles behind the steering wheel, which can be configured to control torque vectoring to progress.
So, if you enter a corner with too much understeer, with a couple of clicks you can change it to neutral or oversteer in real time. Simply put, it should grip, shift and handle better than the inevitable high curb weight has any right to.
Are there any active aerodynamics?
Yes. In the Lamborghini Lanzador it is hidden under the surface at both ends, which increases the downforce in fast corners and cleans it for less drag and gives more range at high speed.
There is a movable front splitter, an extendable rear diffuser, fins that protrude from the side of the rear window, and a bridge spoiler that allows air to pass underneath for greater efficiency, or block that passage for more downforce. It seems like prototypical eccentricity, but, sooner or later, everything will come to production, they promised us.
What about the noise…Or the lack of it?
In fact, that’s why Lambo gave himself five years to find out: Launcher makes noise, but what kind of noise and where is it coming from? Whatever happens, it is not obvious: “Some brands are trying to imitate the combustion of an electric car, but we have to go in another direction, find other steps and convince people with different qualities ,” explained Mohr.
