Why Lamborghini Really Ditched The V10
Weâve had time to process the death of Lamborghiniâs V10, but that doesnât make us any sadder about its loss. The Temerario will soon go into production with a hybrid V8 engine, but was there ever any chance of the V10 living on? According to Lamborghiniâs Chief Technical Officer, it wouldâve been ânearly impossibleâ.
Speaking to UK media at a launch event for the Temerario with Car Throttle in attendance, Rouven Mohr has said that a new V10 was considered for the new car. However, the need to meet current and future emissions regulations, as well as the fear of stepping on the Revueltoâs toes brought an end to that.
Lamborghini Temerario – rear
Mohr said: âIf you look at this segment in the last three, four, five years, the power level in this segment has been increased dramatically. So it means if we wanted to do another naturally-aspirated engine, like a V10 for instance, to go on the power level the market is requesting, with the current or future emissions regulations⊠I would not say itâs impossible but it’s nearly impossible.
âEither you go with super high displacement, but then you come very close to the character of the V12 Revuelto. So youâd have two cars that, in character, are quite close.â
Instead, the Temerarioâs beating heart is a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with a screaming 10,000rpm redline. Despite matching the capacity of the VW Groupâs copy-paste V8 as seen in the Urus, as well as several Porsche and Audi models, itâs a completely bespoke-to-Lamborghini unit.
Lamborghini Temerario – front
Why didnât the manufacturer just take that unit instead of developing something new? Rohr believes if Lamborghini had to use a V8 for this car, it needed to be its own thing.
âEveryone has a V8 twin-turbo engine, itâs not something uniqueâ Rohr added. âWe said okay, If we do this, we have to be sure that the engine has a very unique characterâ.
In its launch guise, the Temerario will produce 907bhp from the V8 combined with three electric motors â Â 789bhp of that coming from the internal combustion engine. On its own though, the V8 could be capable of producing over 1000bhp in a future model.
Lamborghini Temerario – side
We asked where Rohr thinks the engineâs power ceiling is, to which he replied: âI donât think it, I know it. Unfortunately I cannot tell you, but you can be sure itâs a four-digit numberâ. Expect some very, very exciting variants down the line, thenâŠ
