Lamborghini Goes Electric By 2028: Lanzador Gran Turismo Concept

Lamborghini unveiled its Lanzador battery-electric concept vehicle today at Quail Lodge during Monterey Car Week. Lanzador presages a 2028 production Gran Turismo that will be the company’s fourth model line, selling alongside the 1001-horsepower V12 hybrid Revuelto, the Huracán successor, and an evolution of or successor to the Urus SUV.

Exploiting the possibilities of a “skateboard” battery-electric powertrain, Lanzador defines a new point on the X/Y graph, planting the Lamborghini flag in undiscovered country somewhere between supercar, 2+2 Gran Turismo, sport wagon and Super-SUV. Packaging a high-performance internal combustion powertrain in a vehicle with these volumes and forms would be difficult if not impossible.

But this is a concept vehicle, and thus begins the Lanzador mystery: which features are production-intent, and which are concept fantasy. After gathering input from owners at Quail and elsewhere, Lamborghini will define final configuration “in the tube” and the multi-year march to production will begin.

Lanzador follows the accepted skateboard layout we all know and understand in the years following arrival of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, a car that proved revelatory when I drove one three years ago.

Electric motors are mounted to the front and rear axles, right along the vehicle’s centerline. Batteries are slung below the passenger compartment, hence the passenger compartment’s flat floor. Lamborghini would not speak of powertrain specifics but floated a vague power measurable of one Megawatt.

Computer scripting adjusts distribution of torque left to right with millisecond precision, sharpening handling and delivering the most efficient acceleration from launch. Lanzador has full-time all-wheel drive. Depending on final curb weight, I’d wager this vehicle will sprint to 60 mph in the two-second range or close to it.

To manage the instant-on electric torque, Lamborghini has developed new layers of scripting and added a good deal more sensors to collect data on vehicle behavior. The system is named Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata (LDVI). Consider this a further elaboration, an augmentation of the “super brain” that integrates all functions of the powertrain, braking, steering, and suspension.

As more and more battery-electric supercars and hypercars arrive, all with levels of torque no one could have imagined a decade or two ago, expect ever greater electronic intervention and control of vehicle performance.

Lamborghini’s vague reference to 1 Megawatt of power derived from a “new” battery technology along with a proposed production start date of 2028 seems to mesh with industry hopes and dreams that reliable solid-state batteries—sans electrolytes and far greater energy density—might be available by end of decade. But that’s merely conjecture.

Lanzador incorporates active and passive aerodynamic elements, including a variant of Lamborghini’s Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva, or ALA, system, as first seen on the Aventador SVJ and Huracán Performante. The ALA system was developed during Stefano Domenicali’s tenure as CEO, before he left to run Formula One racing. It is a production version of a Formula One Drag Reduction System (DRS).

In this case, ALA takes high-speed airflow from beneath the vehicle and not only shoots it across the rear wing to increase or decrease downforce, but also into the diffuser under the bumper. This technical advance is likely headed to production, no matter what the actual car will look like.

Other aero includes an S-curve at the front of the vehicle, though it is not obvious when inspecting the frunk, along with the expected ducting, inlets, and extractors on the front wheel arches and on the side sills. Nothing here is revolutionary, but Lamborghini is upping its aerodynamic playbook.

Reading between the lines, one might conclude Lamborghini has employed the “engineering toolkit” and hard-won engineering lessons of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S as a primary building block. Taycan Turbo S combines incredible electric acceleration—0-60 mph in the mid-two-second range—with the handling expected of a Porsche. Lamborghini would not define if the vehicle has the Taycan’s signature one-speed gearbox mounted at the rear.

Also, remember that Rimac is now also part of the VW and Porsche Groups, paired with Bugatti, and the Rimac Nevera hypercar is the fastest and in some measures the quickest production vehicle on the planet.

In a few years, it will be interesting to hear where Lamborghini shopped for engineering ingredients to create its own uniquely Germano-Italian electric vehicle.

In an obvious gesture to battery-electric buyers who often also have Green sensibilities, Lanzador’s interior is comprised almost entirely of sustainable materials created in Italy. Seat foam is produced with recycled 3D-printed fibers. The carbon-fiber panels are regenerated carbon. Leather is tanned with olive oil, a process being adopted across the VW Group luxury brands. The interior is swathed in Merino wool fabrics. Yes, as in wool sheared from happy Australian sheep, the argument being that sheep grow a new coat each year and are thus renewable. I suspect most buyers will opt for the added weight and snag-free surface of leather seating to avoid damaging their clothing.

We have several years to wait, much can change along the path to production, but a production Lanzador should prove an excellent everyday electric scooter.