We have all been waiting with bated breath ever since Lamborghini teased us with a sexy silhouette of their new car with the tag line “Once perfection is achieved, you can just double it.” The wait is over and the fabulously sexy Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4 hybrid hyper-cruiser has finally been revealed at the 2014 Paris Motor Show….but is it what we were expecting?
The Asterion is a conceptual car housing a plug-in hybrid powertrain which Lamborghini hopes will define a solution to significantly reducing CO2 emissions in the future, guaranteeing the unique driving feel you get from a Lamborghini with an effortlessly smooth and reactive drive quality without losing superior power (after all that’s what Lamborghini is all about)…….all this also includes an exceptional pure electric range of 50 km.
Legendary for design and cutting-edge engineering, Lamborghini takes their experience and expertise and adds innovative hybrid technology to the Asterion LPI 910-4. Clearly this model is different and comes with a new, unexpected and sensual quality, in line with the technical characteristics of the car without losing the unmistakable Lamborghini feel.
Asterion is only a demonstrator of technology representing a Lamborghini model that could be realistically produced. “Lamborghini is always looking ahead, investing in new technologies and setting new benchmarks, delivering the unexpected,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini.
“Lamborghini continues to focus on weight reduction as a means to reducing CO2, for example through the investment in carbon fiber engineering, which also contributes to our quest for the best super sports car handling and performance. To significantly reduce emissions on a car in this moment however, plug-in electrification is the best option for us, because for Lamborghini such a car must still provide a truly emotional driving experience. In the Asterion this is guaranteed through a naturally aspirated engine that is combined with PHEV technology, which not only offers exceptionally low CO2 emissions of 98 g/km, but a practical pure electric driving range of 50 km.
The Asterion LPI 910-4 is a true Lamborghini: emotional, with a stunning design, powerful, yet conceived more for comfortable luxury daily cruising than for ultimate track performance.”
Lamborghini Centro Stile, created the design on this model which is curvier and less edgy than the current fleet offering. The rear end has been inspired by the Lamborghini Huracan curving sensually round to greet the three distinct air intakes at the front highlighting the masculinity of the Asterion while achieving a slender and dynamic appearance. Two distinctive air vents feature on the bonnet, an active air cooling system which uses a double layered grid for the first time in a Lamborghini history, one metal and one titanium grid are embedded into each other, one containing the Y leitmotiv and the other the hexagon theme, creating a tri dimensional effect.
Attention is focussed on the transparent engine cover in the rear, an aesthetic detail linking to the hybrid technology beneath, comprised of three hexagonal glasses that turn according to the engine driving mode: pure electric, hybrid power or pure thermal engine power. The V10 5.2 l engine beneath is a longitudinally-placed, naturally aspirated mid-engine which provides a maximum power output of 449 kW (610 hp) with 560 Nm of maximum torque available. Combined with the three electric motors providing a further 220 kW (300 hp), total hybrid power is achievable to a maximum of 669 kW (910 hp). What does all that mean? Well, a combined action of the two propulsion systems ensures an exceptional dynamic impulse and acceleration of 0-100 km/h which takes place in 3.0 seconds.
At this stage Lamborghini are only teasing us with this concept and there are no official plans to put the Lamborghini Asterion concept into production. A hybrid engine Lamborghini will feature in the range at some point……watch this space.
