Lamborghini canceled its first EV because no one wanted it
QUICK SUMMARY
Lamborghini has canceled plans to build its first electric car, the Lanzador, which was unveiled as a concept in 2023 and will be released in 2028.
The company said it has received little interest in electric vehicles from its customers, and will instead look to build a plug-in hybrid version of the Lanzador in 2029.
Lamborghini is the latest luxury carmaker to rethink its electrification plans, with the battery-powered Lanzador due to be discontinued in 2028.
A plug-in hybrid version of the radical SUV-coupe is now planned for 2029, which will take six years since the Lanzador was first presented as an electric concept.
I was among the few journalists who drove that concept car back in 2023. While it’s essentially just a show car with a crude, low-power powertrain under wild bodywork, the Lanzador showed what a 1,300-horsepower Lamborghini EV might look and sound like.
The concept of the car – as well as its proportions, style and interior – really impressed me. But there was always a nagging doubt about how an electric Lamborghini could stir the soul of its driver without a note of exhaust.
This concern was brought into sharp focus when Lamborghini’s press event announcing the EV was interrupted by the sound of a large car passing outside. The question that didn’t need to be asked was, how can an electric Lambo grab the attention of a room full of petrolheads like that mysterious passer-by? The answer, now plain for all to see, is that it cannot.
(Photo credit: The Future / Alistair Charlton)
Speaking to the Sunday Times newspaper, Winkelmann said that Lamborghini customers’ demand for an electric car is “close to zero”. Instead of investing in an EV, Lamborghini will now focus on offering a completely hybrid product range by 2029, which includes four different models.
These are expected to include updates to the current Temerario and Revuelto supercars – both now hybrids – as well as the Urus SUV and a new model related to the Lanzador concept.
Speaking to Wired, the Lambo boss added that, after asking salespeople and analyzing customer data, “it was clear that not only is the adoption of fully electric vehicles declining worldwide in our range of vehicles, it’s going to almost zero – if not zero.”
This is a common theme throughout the luxury car and supercar landscape. While low-cost electric cars are gaining popularity, thanks to successes like the reborn Renault 5, and SUVs like the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60 now breaking the 500-mile barrier, electric sports and supercars are almost non-starters.
Mate Rimac admitted in 2024 that his company’s Nevera electric hypercar had sold poorly and would not be followed by another EV. Porsche – with its Boxster and Cayman electric sports cars nervously waiting in the wings – has lost billions of euros by weakening sales of electric cars. Bentley has delayed its all-electric plans by five years.
Interior designed by Ferrari Luce’s Sir Jony Ive
(Photo credit: Ferrari)
Aston Martin and McLaren have both yet to say when, if ever, their first EVs will arrive. Maserati recently canceled plans for an electric version of its McPura supercar due to lack of demand. Bugatti’s next car, the Tourbillon, will be a hybrid with a V16 engine.
Ferrari has quickly become a foreign company, moving forward with its new Luce. A four-seat EV with an interior designed by Sir Jony Ive, a dual-motor powertrain with more than 1,000 horsepower, a trickle-down sound production system likened to a guitar amp, the Luce will be fully revealed in May.
Ferrari perhaps once hoped to tap into the vibrant market for premium, high-performance EVs. But instead, Luce is about to show the world that a supercar company can succeed without cylinders, or not.
