Official: the new Lamborghini LB744 will get a 1,000bhp hybrid drivetrain

Lamborghini has revealed a suite of numbers tied to the upcoming reveal of its next generation hybrid hypercar, and they are Big, Important Numbers.

The first of which is the most striking. A grand total of 1,015CV – a nice, round thousand horsepower – will somehow find a home inside this successor to the Lamborghini Aventador, via a brand new, naturally aspirated V12 engine with a 6.5-litre capacity, and three electric motors.

A V12. It’s been Lamborghini’s literal beating heart since boss Ferruccio slung one in the 350GT back in 1963. This new V12, dubbed ‘L545’, is apparently the lightest configuration of twelve cylinders Lambo has arranged – as well as the most powerful. Alone, it weighs 218kg (17kg less than before), has been rotated through 180 degrees versus the Aventador, and produces 814bhp at… 9,250rpm, though max revs sit at 9,500rpm. Torque’s 535lb ft or ‘plenty’.

Lambo tells us the intakes have been redesigned (more air), there’s a higher compression ratio and the combustion itself has been ‘optimised’, a fancy way of saying ‘big explosions now more explodey’.

Three electric motors give the new LB744 electric four-wheel drive. One motor has been smuggled inside a brand new, Lamborghini-designed eight-speed double-clutch gearbox (replacing the single-clutcher of the Aventador). This new DCT – which Lambo is very proud of – weighs 193kg on its own and is said to offer fundamentally quicker shifts than the ‘kick-in-the-back-of-the-head’ changes of the Aventador’s unit. (Lambo says if you keep the left paddle held it’ll block shift down, for example.)

The other two electric motors are of course mounted on the front axle, able to a) drive the LB744 on e-power alone, b) join the V12 and really drive the LB744 on hybrid power, c) recuperate brake energy and d) apply torque vectoring for better dynamics.

That new gearbox is mounted behind the V12 – just like the Miura! – which frees up space in the traditional transmission tunnel zone to allow the fitment of a 3.8kWh battery. This battery powers all three electric motors of course and can be fully recharged by a plug socket (in just half an hour) or by the V12 under braking in six minutes.

Indeed the addition of electric motors means overall CO2 emissions for the LB744 are 30 per cent less than those that came out of the back of the Aventador Ultimae.

One final number partly explains why Lamborghini has gone to such great lengths with this new hybrid hypercar. “The first HPEV (Hybrid Performance Electrified Vehicle), codenamed LB744, will make its debut shortly in the year that Lamborghini celebrates its 60th anniversary.”