A Lamborghini executive has suggested handling has overtaken acceleration and top speed as the Italian firm’s “number one priority”.
Francesco Scardaoni, who heads up Lamborghini’s Asia Pacific division, told CarAdvice.com.au out-and-out acceleration was no longer “that important”.
“If you go back to 10 years ago, probably when we were asked the parameters to measure a car with we would say top speed, acceleration and handling. Then top speed became a secondary measure; acceleration the first one.
“Now, basically, acceleration is no more that important. Because it’s quite easy for those kind of power units to have amazing results in acceleration,” he said, making reference to the motors in fully electric models such as the Tesla Model S.
Scardaoni furthermore pointed out there was more to a performance vehicle than mere straight-line speed.
“What is really now making the difference is the drivability of the car, the handling,” he said.
“Because when you have good acceleration but the car is heavy to steer, heavy to handle, you cannot have that pleasure of driving in a really fast way.
“For sure, now handling in our opinion is one of the top priorities for a manufacturer, especially a manufacturer like Lamborghini. And for Lamborghini handling is crucial, a key parameter – handling is [the] top, number one priority.”
