The Lamborghini Revuelto Is a 1,001-HP, 9,500-RPM Hybrid V12 Aventador Replacement
Lamborghini’s V12 superlative officially graduates to hypercar status.
Ever since the Miura, Lamborghini has defined itself around mid-engined, V12 halo cars designed to dominate your attention. So it was for the Countach, Diablo, Murcielago, and Aventador, and now, for the first hybrid chapter in Lamborghini's V12 story. Meet the Lamborghini Revuelto: a 1,001-horsepower plug-in hybrid hypercar that will fly the naturally aspirated V12 flag as long as there's fuel to run it.
The Revuelto—I'm not even going to try to pronounce that—is a hair larger than the already sprawling Aventador it replaces, and once again built around a carbon fiber monocoque. Its chassis is 10% lighter and 25% stiffer, and upgrades its front subframe from aluminum to carbon—the rear stays metal, but still gets lighter and stiffer. It's clad in a mostly carbon body with highly optimized aero, some of it active, for drastically reduced drag and increased downforce front and rear. All in service, of course, of the 12 cylinders strapped to its occupants' backs.
The defining feature of the Revuelto is its powertrain, headed by an all-new 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 with a racing-style dry sump. It's the lightest, most powerful V12 Lamborghini has ever made, with higher compression than the Aventador and a rev limiter way up at 9,500 rpm. Peak power comes on at 9,250 rpm, at 813 horsepower with up to 535 lb-ft of torque—but that's before you account for the electricity.
They flow to the rear axle through a new, aft-mounted eight-speed dual-clutch automatic that's lighter and snappier than the seven-speed in the Huracan. They're augmented, too, by a transmission-mounted starter-generator motor, which draws juice from a 3.8-kWh battery crammed in the center tunnel where the transmission lived on the Aventador.
This juice box also powers a motor on each front wheel, enabling electric torque vectoring all-wheel drive. The Revuelto can be run in EV-only mode with 177 hp and front-wheel drive, or wake up its V12 to combine them for hypercar-level performance. We're talking a total system output of 1,001 hp and 1,051 lb-ft of torque, good for zero to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds and a top speed beyond 217 mph.
It needs almighty stopping power to rein that in, which is why the Revuelto has carbon-ceramic "plus" brakes with 10-piston front calipers and four-piston rears. They're backed by regenerative braking to recharge the battery, which can also just be done with the engine in a matter of six minutes. It all serves to reduce CO2 emissions by a whopping 30% compared to the Aventador Ultimae.
Handling likely improves too, with a more balanced 44-56 weight distribution, and whatever semi-active suspension wishbones are. The Revuelto's sway bars are stiffer and its steering quicker, which capitalize on four-wheel steering to increase agility. Its contact patch is a hair larger than the Aventador's too, with rear tires as big as 355s on 22-inch wheels. All this bulk means that despite the aggressive use of composites, the Revuelto is anything but light at 3,907 pounds dry.
Because the Revuelto will cost amounts none of us normies would like to think about, it has to comfort its owners too. Its cabin has more head and leg room than the Aventador, there are storage compartments in the dash and center console, a passenger cupholder, and enough room behind the seats for some golf clubs. Two carryons will fit in the frunk, too.
The Revuelto's complex drivetrain also means it has no fewer than 13 drive modes, controlled through its steering wheel and central 8.4-inch touchscreen. The smartphone-inspired interface allows the configuration of a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 9.1-inch passenger display, with many of the same functions for a copilot-like experience.
It has Amazon Alexa integration for climate, media, and navigation control (which is largely cloud-based), and some basic ADAS features too—lane departure, blind spot watch, adaptive cruise, and rear cross-traffic alert. Lamborghini will offer 400 paint options and 70 colors for the interior, which can be spec'd in varying combinations of leather and Dinamica microfiber made from recycled polyester.
The Lamborghini Revuelto carries forward the V12 formula that has defined the marque for almost 60 years now, into a future less friendly to the combustion engine—at least, to the kinds owned by us proles. And remember, this is only the start: Look back at how many special editions of the Lamborghini Aventador were made, and remember that's coming for the Revuelto too. If you think this is wild, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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