Lamborghini Sian – Ringing The Bell For A New Hybrid Supercar Era

It finally happened…Lamborghini entered a new market for hybrid supercars with its first series-produced hybrid vehicle – the Lamborghini Sian. We’re talking about the most powerful bull of all time as the V12 hybrid produces a dizzying power output of 818 PS.

The coupe version of this hypercar is limited to 63 units which is a nod to the year Lamborghini was founded, 1963. The coupe was first introduced at the 2019 IAA in Frankfurt as Sian (meaning “lightbolt” in Bolognese dialect) with the suffix FK P37. The latter refers to the initials and year of birth of Ferdinand Karl Piëch, who died on August 25, 2019, just one month before revealing the car (Lamborghini is part of Volkswagen Group and Karl Piëch held leadership positions there between 1993 and 2015). In 2020, the roadster version of the Sian was launched but would be even more limited – only 20 cars were to be built.

For both versions, Lamborghini offered customization options at an unprecedented scale as each unit of the hypercar is planned to have a unique design. However, the platform of the Sian is the same as for the Aventador – strongly modified, but still the same. It‘s a pity because we‘ve already seen this platform used in previous limited editions such as the Veneno and the Centenario. I would have liked to see a new platform to kick-off Lamborghini’s new hybrid era. But I think the Sian can be viewed as the bridge between the current flagship Aventador model and its successor. It’s similar to when Lamborghini released the Reventon, which was based on the Murcielago platform but featured many elements of the current Aventador. Design-wise, the hypercar combines futuristic references together with of some elements of the most iconic Lamborghinis of the 1980s.

For now, the Sian is the most powerful and fastest-accelerating car Lamborghini has ever produced. The power output of 818 PS comes from the V12 gasoline engine (785 PS) + 48-volt electric motor (34 PS) which accelerates the car from 0-100 km/h in only 2.8 seconds. Lamborghini claims Vmax in excess of 350 km/h and has outstanding aerodynamic solutions to outperform the rest of the Lambo product line.

The power from the electrical motor is not stored in a conventional lithium ion battery like we know from other Hypercar brands. Rather, it is generated by a supercapacitor unit three times as powerful as a cell of the same weight, and is three times lighter than a battery with the same output. Lamborghini worked closely with researchers at MIT to create the first use of a supercapacitor in a hybrid supercar.

The device, mounted ahead of the engine for enhanced weight distribution, is an evolution of that found in the Aventador to power the starter motor and can store 10 times as much power as the original.

As you could guess, all Sians were already sold out before production even started. Those who were given the privilege to buy one paid around USD 3.7 million, but that’s the price you have to pay when Lamborghini rings the bell for its new hybrid supercar era.