Call it electron envy or a particularly persistent devotion to performance, but it would appear that the good engineers in Sant’Agata have been coveting their neighbours’ horsepower. Pride of place on Lamborghini’s stand at this year’s Paris auto show is the all-new Asterion LPI 910-4, whose specifications read — give or take a piston or two — like a Porsche 918’s. A whopping 910 horsepower is available thanks to the combination of a 5.2-litres of gas-fed V10 liberated from the Huracan and — Lamborghini never does anything by halves — no less than three electric motors. Yup, three electric motors; one, Honda Insight-like (that also acts as a starter), sandwiched in between the gas engine and the dual-clutch seven-speed transmission and one more in each of the front half axles.
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Lamborghini claims this proliferation of electrons makes for two distinct driving experiences. In Ibrido (hybrid) mode, the gas engine and all three electric motors combine for a four-wheel-drive system that is almost assuredly necessary to contain those aforementioned 910 hp. But, in Zero (zero emissions/full electric) mode, only the front two motors are used, the onboard lithium-ion battery having enough juice for up to 50 kilometres of fossil-fuel-free-motoring.
Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4
Handout, Lamborghini
Performance is definitely diminished — Lambo claims a 320 km/h top speed with all motors a-blazing, but the purely electric top speed is a still useful 125 klicks per. More importantly, the Asterion consumes but 4.1 L/100 km in Europe’s NDEC cycle. That’s equivalent to C02 emissions of just 98 grams/kilometre, incredibly close to matching the European Union’s stringent 2021 standards, a figure made all the more incredible when you consider that the Asterion can accelerate to 100 km/h in less than three seconds.
The elephant on the showroom floor, however, is whether all this hybridization will be unique to Lamborghini or whether this ultimate powertrain will eventually also find its way into the LP 610-4’s sister-ship, Audi’s R8. The Asterion’s 610-hp 5.2-litre V10 may have been liberated from the Huracan, but it, after all, was born an Audi. And Ingolstadt has had all manner of alternatively-powered R8s running around — the famous electric-powered R8 e-Tron and the even more otherworldly, but largely forgotten, V12 TDI-powered R8 that boasted no less than 738 pound-feet of torque — so one has to suspect there might also be a hyper hybrid in Audi’s future. As recent history has proven, there is nothing more covetous than a German car company envying its competitor’s horsepower.
Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4
Handout, Lamborghini
