{"id":484931,"date":"2010-03-29T13:25:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T17:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caranddriver.com\/?p=17801"},"modified":"2010-03-29T13:25:34","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T17:25:34","slug":"the-future-of-lamborghini-more-carbon-fiber-greater-efficiency-no-forced-induction%e2%80%94and-no-manuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/484931","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Lamborghini: More Carbon Fiber, Greater Efficiency, No Forced Induction\u2014and No Manuals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

At the recent launch of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera<\/a>, we sat down with Maurizio Reggiani, the director of research and development at the extroverted supercar maker, to get a read on what to expect from Sant\u2019Agata Bolognese over the next few years.<\/p>\n

First off, it\u2019s worth noting that the company reorganized its priorities in 2007. Prior to that, they were design, top speed, acceleration, and handling\u2014in that order. But now, citing the fact that there\u2019s really nowhere to explore its cars\u2019 200-mph-plus speeds, handling and top speed have switched places, so the order looks like this:<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Design<\/p>\n

2. Handling<\/p>\n

3. Acceleration<\/p>\n

4. Top Speed<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice that fuel economy didn\u2019t make the top four, but it will be a major focus for the company over the next five years (and probably longer). After all, 550-plus-hp cars and stricter fuel-efficiency regulations don\u2019t tend to jibe very well.<\/p>\n

In Europe, Lamborghini has special dispensation as a small automaker to reduce its cars\u2019 CO2 output by 35 percent between 2007 and 2015, rather than meet dramatically stricter regulations in place for larger manufacturers. For the U.S., Reggiani tells us that\u2019s it\u2019s still up to the EPA to decide whether Lamborghini will have to meet fuel-economy hurdles as an individual company, or whether it will be held to one overall figure based on an average of all the VW Group brands sold here.<\/p>\n

Twenty percent of the total 35-percent reduction in CO2 mentioned has already been achieved, largely due to fitting direct injection to the Gallardo\u2019s V-10 when the LP560-4 model was launched. But the next 15 percent is much harder, says Reggiani. Further gains will come from additional increases in engine efficiency, such as friction reduction, and plan on direct injection appearing on the company\u2019s V-12 when the Murci\u00e9lago replacement launches. (That should happen in the next 12 to 18 months.) Lamborghini is somewhat surprisingly working on far more mainstream technologies, too, such as stop\/start capability to thrift fuel in urban settings, cylinder deactivation\u2014so that both the V-10 and the V-12 can operate on half as many cylinders\u2014E85 compatibility, and possibly even a mild-hybrid solution. Against the pervasive trend in the industry, Reggiani says that there are no plans for forced induction at this point. Although that certainly is one way to reduce emissions, he says the company simply isn\u2019t willing to sacrifice either engine\u2019s fabulous linearity or their awe-inspiring wail. In short, the naturally aspirated V-10 and V-12 will continue.<\/p>\n

Weight-Loss Strategy to Include More Carbon Fiber<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reggiani says Lambo is determined to offset any weight gains, particularly from a hybrid system, by reductions elsewhere in the car. Future cars \u201chave to be lighter,\u201d he says. To that end, he believes carbon fiber will be the major enabler of the weight-reduction goal, as witnessed by Lamborghini\u2019s recent collaboration with the University of Washington and Boeing to create the ACSL, or Automobili Lamborghini Composite Structures Laboratory. The purpose of the lab is to leverage the aerospace industry\u2019s extensive carbon-fiber experience to find even more efficient ways to use it in automobiles. Reggiani cites studies predicting that the cost of carbon fiber will decline significantly by the 2012\u20132014 timeframe, at which point it\u2019s predicted to be no more expensive than aluminum. By then, he wants to have come up with more creative ways of using the stuff, as its material properties, unlike those of aluminum, can be changed dramatically based on construction and shape.<\/p>\n

How about getting rid of all-wheel drive as a weight reducer? Not likely. \u201cYou have to put the power to the ground,\u201d Reggiani says, \u201cand when the tires are a-spinning all the time, you lose out on acceleration.\u201d (See company priority No. 3). Certainly all-wheel drive is a major enabler of blistering standing-start acceleration, which is how the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera is predicted to hurl to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Plus, Lamborghini prefers four-wheel traction for racetrack situations, too, where it certainly makes its cars more goof-proof and easier to safely exploit, although we generally prefer hairier rear-drivers on-track.<\/p>\n

Et Tu, Lamborghini?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We pointed out that Lambo\u2019s Italian neighbors, Ferrari, have basically abandoned the use of manual transmissions, and Reggiani concedes that Lamborghini likely will eventually follow suit; he says manual transmissions are fitted to less than five percent of the firm\u2019s cars. Although he\u2019s still somewhat defensive about the common belief that dual-clutch automated manuals with seven speeds or more\u2014such as Porsche\u2019s PDK\u2014are necessarily better than Lambo\u2019s six-speed single-clutch unit. He says Lamborghini is opposed to unequal gear steps, such as Porsche\u2019s thrifty and ultra-tall seventh ratio, and also makes note that the Porsche gearbox is roughly 50 pounds heavier than the Lambo six-speed. But we tend to side with Porsche on this one\u2014use gears one through six for acceleration, and reserve seventh as purely for fuel economy.<\/p>\n

Lamborghinis with cylinder deactivation, the exclusive use of automatics, and stop\/start functionality? If anything, this proves that the automotive future will be anything but business as usual.<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Audi Says Car Prices Will Rise With Efficiency<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Mazda\u2019s Efficiency Strategy to Include Stop\/Start, Energy Regeneration, Diesel, and More – Car News<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Lamborghini Estoque Concept – Auto Shows<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At the recent launch of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, we sat down with Maurizio Reggiani, the director of research and development at the extroverted supercar maker, to get a read on what to expect from Sant\u2019Agata Bolognese over the next few years. First off, it\u2019s worth noting that the company reorganized its priorities in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}