Yahoo Autos 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto is the 1,001-horsepower start of a new era
Marketed as the beginning of a new era, the Lamborghini Revuelto takes the torch from the Aventador with a muscular-looking design, a more spacious interior, and a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain rated at 1,001 horsepower. The firm's next flagship is new from the ground up, even its carbon fiber chassis was developed from scratch, and it blazes the path that future models will follow in the coming years.
Low, wide, and head-turning, the Revuelto is instantly recognizable as a Lamborghini. And yet, it's a new breed of bull: its headlights are tucked under the hood (rather than mounted flush with the front-end panels) and underlined by Y-shaped LED daytime running lights, while its back end is dominated by a pair of high-mounted exhaust outlets and a massive carbon fiber diffuser. One of the coolest design details is the decklid: made out of carbon fiber to save weight, it's shaped like a U to give onlookers an unobstructed view of the new V12 engine.
"I like motorcycles, and it's always fascinating to bring in some ideas from the motorcycle world. So, like this we came up with the idea of the hidden front lights," Lamborghini design boss Mitja Borkert told me. This also explains why the exhaust outlets are proudly mounted high up on the rear fascia; it's a design cue that floated into the galaxy of cars from the world of motorcycles (especially ones designed for racing). There's far more to the design than a few bike-inspired styling cues, though. "We have this powertrain, and we were saying that it's for sure one of the last V12s so let's celebrate it. Let's make it visible. That's why the engine is completely visible," Borkert added, stressing that his team's goal was for the new model to unmistakably channel Lamborghini's DNA without copying a previous, future, or existing model.
Stretching the wheelbase by about three inches and raising the roof line by around an inch allowed Lamborghini to carve out a more spacious interior (something Aventador owners asked for). Don't expect third-row seating and 12 cupholders, we're talking about a supercar, but legroom has increased and there's now space behind the seats to store small items, like a purse or a briefcase. Most of the buttons that the driver needs to access quickly while driving are located on the steering wheel: You can signal, activate the front-end lift system, turn on the wipers, and switch driving modes while keeping both hands on the wheel. Huge shift paddles are mounted behind the steering wheel.
Even supercar buyers expect a long list of tech features, and the Revuelto doesn't disappoint. It features a 12.3-inch free-standing digital instrument cluster whose graphics change depending on the driving mode selected, an 8.4-inch portrait-oriented touchscreen for the infotainment system, and a 9.1-inch screen embedded into the passenger's side of the dashboard. The passenger can configure the 9.1-inch display to show the same information that's on the instrument cluster, and both occupants can move widgets from the touchscreen to the passenger's screen with a smartphone-like wiping motion. This is a new layout, but Lamborghini nonetheless carried over some ideas from the Aventador: the ignition button remains positioned under a fighter jet-inspired red flap, and you pull on a lever to engage reverse.
As previously reported, the drivetrain's centerpiece is a new, 6.5-liter V12 engine that's naturally-aspirated — Lamborghini wants to keep this configuration alive for as long as possible — and capable of revving to a screaming 9,500 rpm. The transmission is just as interesting: It's an eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic unit mounted transversally behind the engine. In comparison, the Aventador's 12-cylinder engine was bolted to a seven-speed, Independent Shifting Rod (ISR) automatic gearbox located in what was accurately called the transmission tunnel.
