ISSU E 262 • NOVEMBER 2014
When the VW Group became the proud owners of Lamborghini in 1998, there were those who worried that the company which inspired generations of petrolheads might lose some of its independent edge... that the horns of the bull might be blunted by the weight of the German MotherCorp.
Those people had a right to be worried: since 1963, Lamborghini has been the automotive industry’s agent provocateur, and few companies have a greater sense of identity. Sublimation into the endless efficiencies of VW might not have been a good thing for soulful Lamborghini, hero of a hundred thousand bedroom walls. But despite the fears, VW’s ownership hasn’t dulled the edges of Lamborghini’s creativity. Quite the opposite: the past 16 years have seen the brand go from strength to strength, delivering ever more extreme creations to an exponentially growing fanbase.
And while VW business acumen has added process, profit and quality to the beautiful madness, Sant’Agata – under the stewardship of Stephan Winkelmann – has continued to nurture its most extreme passions. In recent years, theatrical creations like the Reventón, Aventador J, Sesto Elemento, Veneno and Egoista have snatched headlines from Lamborghini’s biggest rivals at motor shows around the world. The real genius being that each and every one of these automotive extravagances turned a profit or was actually a rolling test bed for Lamborghini’s future technological development.
This month, TopGear has been granted exclusive access to the creation of the next star of the motor-show circuit, the Lamborghini Asterion, arguably the most important ‘concept’ in Lamborghini’s history. As we’ve come to expect, the Asterion’s stunning design is part of a cutting-edge vision of the future.
In a world obsessed with efficiency, the next generation of Lamborghinis will have to deploy not only radical design but also radical engineering – in the form of hybrid powertrains – to guarantee the brand’s future. Of course, as part of the VW Group, Lamborghini could have gone shopping for hybrid drivetrains at Porsche or Audi, but as a testament to its independence and engineering expertise, it opted to develop its own V10/hybrid system in-house. Proof – if ever it were needed – that passion, engineering excellence and the ability to shock continue to run very deep in Sant’Agata. For those of us who love cars, that’s very good news indeed.
Enjoy the issue,