As petrolheads it is hard to be happy with the regulations strangling all things loud and fast and while many are charging towards this brave new hybrid or electric future, others are taking a more cautious pace.
In the case of Lamborghini, one that will allow the company to extend the life of its glorious naturally-aspirated V12 for another product generation.
Chief Technical Offer Maurizio Reggiani has confirmed to PistonHeads that the Aventador replacement will be hybridized but the star of its powertrain will continue to be a self-breathing 12-cylinder engine.
“The V12 has been part of the story of Lamborghini since the very beginning,” Reggiani said. “It has been present in every year of our history, which is why our strategy and our vision for the future is to continue to have a V12 coupled with a hybrid motor.”
Reggiani defending the V12 puts him in a small minority these days as even the biggest maker of 12-cylinder engines, Bentley, has confirmed they will build their last ICE before the end of the decade.
Reggiani did admit that electrical assistance will add mass to the future powerplants, but it will also bring other engineering advantages.
“For a purist, for a lover of engineering, an engine with a regular firing order is perfection, and with a V12 you have for every sixty degrees a spark and everything is self balancing,” he says, “the voice, the sound, the emotion, the very soul of our car will be based on the naturally aspirated V12 engine.”
