Lamborghini Explains Why It Killed The V-10 Engine

When the last Audi R8 rolled off the assembly line in March, it took away with it the mighty V-10. The 5.2-liter engine is now completely gone, as Lamborghini uses an entirely different powertrain for the Huracan’s successor. However, the new Temerario could’ve kept the high-revving naturally aspirated setup if the Italian exotic brand had agreed to make serious compromises.

Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s Chief Technical Officer, explained in an interview with Top Gear magazine why the V-10 is dead. Had the odd-firing engine stuck around, output would’ve had to decrease by a massive 20% to keep up with increasingly stringent regulations. In its highest state of tune, the engine delivered 631 hp, so a V-10 Temerario would’ve had a little over 500 hp. That’s roughly as much as an original Gallardo from over two decades ago.

The new baby Lambo only lost two cylinders, but the Audi-owned marque based in Sant’Agata Bolognese initially considered deleting no fewer than four cylinders. Yes, the Huracan replacement could’ve ended up with a V-6 instead. However, the higher-ups ruled out such drastic downsizing, fearing the clientele would’ve had a hard time accepting a six-cylinder model when the two preceding models had beefy V-10s.

From a technical standpoint, Mohr says they could’ve made a V-6 Temerario with the same level of performance as the V-8. Ultimately, they chose not to because “we don’t think that the V-6 is fitting to our brand.” Rival companies see things differently since McLaren with the Artura and Ferrari with the 296 GTB have six-cylinder supercars. Aston Martin also wanted to launch a mid-engined Vanquish with a V-6 but canceled the project despite showing a concept car in 2019.

Logic tells us it would’ve been cheaper for Lamborghini to stick to the tried-and-tested V-10, even in a watered-down form. Mohr told Top Gear the new eight-cylinder engine necessitated an investment in the “high tens of millions” and took about five years to develop. This means that work on Temerario’s combustion engine started in 2019 when the company was still pumping out special-edition Huracans.

Lamborghini Temerario’s V-8 engine

The new 4.0-liter gas engine fitted with a pair of turbochargers produces 789 horsepower. Mohr says the engineers can extract another 80 hp, taking the V-8 to 869 hp. In addition, Lamborghini can dial up the hybrid setup by tweaking the electric motors, resulting in a combined output that would hit the 1,000-hp mark. The company’s CTO confirmed a “four-digit number is possible.” That would effectively double the output the initial Gallardo had back in 2003.

Lamborghini is in no hurry to upgrade the Temerario, considering deliveries of the standard model haven’t even started yet. The order books opened in September, and the supercar has already generated a “very positive response from the public.” Models carrying the raging bull tend to have a long life cycle, 10 years in the case of the Gallardo and Huracan, so there’s plenty of time to roll out hotter derivatives.