Inside the tech that makes the Lamborghini Huracan a raging bull

A V-10-powered replacement for Lamborghini’s company-saving Gallardo has been eagerly awaited since just before the global Great Recession changed all of our lives. At the upcoming Geneva motor show we’ll finally have the public undressing of the new Huracán LP 610-4, a car that's quicker and more powerful, while spewing 50 percent less CO2 into the atmosphere. Even bulls think about the environment now.

From the name “LP 610-4," we get that the engine is behind the occupants in a midship position – P is for posteriore – and that European horsepower is 610, translating to 602 U.S. horsepower. The ‘-4’ always means four-wheel-drive on Lambos.

The bonded and bolted body-in-white is of lightweight aluminum alloys and carbon fiber pieces, whereas the Gallardo was all-aluminum. The weight-saving and stiffness-adding carbon fiber is found in the long central tunnel through the middle of the passenger space and over the whole rear wall of the cabin. Lamborghini had us walk through the still fairly empty assembly area for the Huracán in Sant’Agata Bolognese where teams were ramping up in their training for full-bore Huracán assembly — 13 cars built per daily eight-hour shift.

The updated naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 engine in back gets its fuel delivered now through not only multi-point injection, but also via direct-injection during certain phases of the rev range. The V-10 gets cylinder deactivation like with the V-12 engine in the Aventador, but of a different strategy that can use a variety of five-cylinder combinations depending on which five produce the smoothest cycle. First Huracán deliveries for North America will be near November of this year, following intros in the rest of the world in June, due to the further EPA testing needed to evaluate efficiency numbers.