A senior Lamborghini executive says the Italian brand is not prepared to give up on the V12 engine despite ever-tightening emissions regulations.
Speaking to whichcar.com.au at the Geneva International Motor Show after the reveal of the V12-powered Aventador SVJ Roadster, chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani said he would not call time on the 12-cylinder engine just yet.
“The V12 must respect some homologation rules. We are able to guarantee that our V12 will be able to fulfil all Euro 6 rules,” he told the Australian publication.
“After that, it comes down to questions of capacity and fuel consumption. What’s becoming clear is that if you want a super sportscar, fuel consumption cannot be discounted.
“The future will be Euro 7, a real tough game-changer. Maybe 2023, 2025. It will have real significant impacts in terms of output and performance,” Reggiani said, hinting that should the V12 live on past then, it would suffer some sort of performance penalty.
When asked about the possible threat posed by the various electric supercars on display at Geneva, the 60-year-old said there was a “real difference between concept and a production car”.
“There are cars being presented without any kind of entry for air. The battery needs a super-efficient cooling system otherwise you have no functionality. From concept to production – you need an evolution of the revolution.”
At the same show, Mercedes-Benz took the wraps off its Mercedes-AMG S65 Final Edition, effectively signalling the death of the V12 in its S-Class sedan range.