Lamborghini delays first EV launch as market not ready

Italy's Lamborghini will always make cars in Italy as it plans to launch its first electric model only in 2029, amid a market for luxury sports cars which is not ripe for full electrification, CEO Stephan Winkelmann said on Monday.

Lamborghini, a unit of Volkswagen, had previously said its first electric vehicle (EV) was due in 2028. Italian rival Ferrari will launch its first EV model in the final quarter of next year.

“We do not think 2029 is late to have an electric car. We do not think that, in our segment, the market will be ready in 2025 or 2026,” Winkelmann told reporters at Lamborghini's headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese, near the northern Italian city of Bologna.

Lamborghini, from this year, has an entire hybrid three-model line-up, with the new version of the Urus SE SUV, the Revuelto sports car and the new Temerario sports car, presented during the summer and which has a price of more than €300,000 (R5.63m), excluding VAT.

Winkelmann said Lamborghini was not in a hurry to push for electrification. The company is also waiting for a clearer regulatory outlook in the EU, as a review of the bloc's ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine cars from 2035 is currently scheduled in 2026.

“We think this is the right way to face the future,” he said. “There are discussions around synthetic fuels and this is an opportunity for our type of cars”.

Winkelmann, who reiterated there were no plans for a Lamborghini spin-off from the Volkswagen group, said Lamborghini cars would always be produced in Italy.

Asked whether he saw any business impact after the election of Donald Trump as the next US president and his threat of new tariffs on European-made products, Winkelmann declined to comment but added, “We cannot think of a Lamborghini being manufactured outside Italy or of Sant'Agata”.