2019 Lamborghini Huracan: What the refreshed entry-level Lambo may gain
Flush with Audi technology and betting the Urus will double company sales, Lamborghini is willing to radicalize the Huracán beyond a typical supercar refresh.
When an updated Huracán arrives in late 2018 or early 2019, it could adapt rear-wheel steering from the Aventador S and a 48volt electrical subsystem similar to those in the Audi SQ7 and Bentley Bentayga. As we’ve experienced, Lamborghini’s rear-wheel steering shrinks the Aventador’s impossibly wide, truckish footprint to that of a lighter, smaller sports car, so imagine what it could do for the lighter, smaller Huracán. According to a senior Lamborghini engineer, the issue of cost — even in a Lamborghini — has executives wavering since the Huracán is supposed to be the “entry level” supercar.
As for the higher voltage, next-generation Lamborghini models will employ a 48-volt subsystem that runs concurrently with the primary 12-volt system. Since the Urus will share much of its hardware with Bentley, it’s likely that the 200-mph SUV will feature adaptive anti-roll bars that twist by means of high-powered electric motors. The Huracán may introduce this feature — or others powered by the 48-volt subsystem, such as Audi’s electric rotary dampers — before it is replaced, although the complexity of adding a secondary battery, a belt-alternator starter, and more wiring may not fit so neatly in a mid-engined Lambo.
If the engineers can make it work, don’t expect the Huracán to use a hybrid assist as on the 2019 Audi A8. Lamborghini is more concerned with wringing every last pony from the 5.2-liter V-10, although our source tells us that engine — which started life in the Gallardo and peaks at 631 horsepower in the Huracán Performante — is reaching its limit.
Regardless of whether Lamborghini increases power and rewires the entire car, the team is also considering a GT3 version that would be more hard core than the rear-wheel-drive Performante introduced this year. Lamborghini executives started promising rear-wheel-drive Huracán variants as soon as the car debuted for 2014, and while the LP580-2 and Performante are as raw as ever, a true Superleggera is in the cards. Picture a street-legal version of the latest Super Trofeo Evo race car in the vein of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, and you’re not far off.
But like all of these proposals, the GT3 hasn’t been okayed for production. Whatever final form the refreshed Huracán takes, it’ll no doubt keep us out of breath for several more years.