2004 Lamborghini Gallardo on 2040-cars

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The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio is a brutally fantastic EV supercar concept

Lamborghini isn't known for bowing to convention. Ever since Ferruccio told Enzo Ferrari where he could stick his temperamental cars, and decided to build his own, it's been going its own way. This car, the Terzo Millennio ("third millenium"), built in collaboration with MIT, is very much a Lamborghini approach to the EV performance car. To begin with, it is obviously nothing else but a Lamborghini. Wild concept car touches aside, it's as wedgy and mean as anything to come out of Sant'Agata (and definitely anything to come out of Cambridge, MA!). There's some advanced tech here, too, as you might imagine with MIT's involvement. The most notable is the supercapacitor energy storage technology. Supercapacitors aren't ready for primetime yet, being very expensive and not quite as energy dense, although currently they're used in a few niche automotive applications. But MIT and Lamborghini want to produce one that'll work more like a main battery, but with greater ability to recharge and discharge quickly. That's ideal for brutal, explosive acceleration. If Lamborghini and MIT can make a breakthrough here, it'd let the decidedly conventional Lamborghinis of today (naturally aspirated, non-electrified) take a leap into the future on Lamborghini's own terms. The company is also exploring carbon composite batteries utilizing nanotechnology, which the company claims would reduce weight and increase the discharge capacity of the batteries. So, it seems, the Terzo Millennio might combine the two power storage technologies into the same drivetrain. Of course, like most modern Lamborghinis there's all-wheel drive, although it's in-wheel electric motor-based rather than the conventional mechanical type. It'd be easy enough to leave off the front motors for a Performante variant, perhaps. Or maybe in-wheel electric motors become the norm in the future. It's too early to tell; for now, this concept is AWD. The body is carbon fiber, and this concept previews some technology that can detect degradation in the carbon fiber early and potentially repair it with something called "nano-channels" utilizing a form of the technology that allows carbon composite materials to store energy. This technology deserves more explanation than we have room for here, and we'll get a deep dive on it as soon as we can. Lastly, Lamborghini wants a vehicle like the Terzo Millennio to sound like a Lamborghini. That won't be easy, since there's no V12 or V10 to be found.

Lamborghini will enter the Urus in off-road competition

Lamborghini still has several months until it starts shipping its new 189.5-mph Urus SUV to customers, but the brand is already thinking about proving its mettle by entering the luxury ute in an unspecified all-roads competition. It also plans to use the Bentley Bentayga, a key competitor in the rarified $200,000 SUV segment, as a benchmark when that vehicle takes on the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado in June, even though it denies it will outright follow its Volkswagen Group stablemate into the competition. Bentley just hired two-time Pikes Peak winner Rhys Millen for that endeavor. "Lamborghini welcomes challenges, but whatever we do will be quite different from other brands," CEO Stefano Domenicali was quoted as saying by Autocar. "We will choose a form of competition intended only for our class of vehicle. Our car has many faces. You can enjoy its beauty, it is very fast on the track, very fast off-road and very fast on gravel. We will choose something that combines all of these things." The Urus is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that generates 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. It's mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission that drives all four wheels and goes from 0-62 mph in 3.6 seconds. It boasts low-down torque for off-road benefit, plus Terra (off-road) and Sabbia (sand) driving modes, which raise the air suspension for added ground clearance. By way of comparison, the Bentayga that Bentley will race up Pike's Peak features a 6.0-liter W12 making 600 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque and taking the SUV from 0-60 in 4 seconds. Domenicali recently told CNBC that the $200,000 luxury ute has been a hit with Bitcoin investors (of course) and buyers in Russia and India, and could account for more than a fifth of the brand's projected sales of 5,000 vehicles in 2018. Lamborghini expects to double production in its newly remodeled Sant'Agata Bolognese factory by next year. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lamborghini takes Veneno out to play on wet Vallelunga [w/video]

With only four examples in existence, you're not very likely to ever see a Lamborghini Veneno roaming your local highways and byways. That's what makes this clip a little out of the ordinary.
Lamborghini brought the super-rare supercar out to the Vallelunga circuit near Rome for the World Finals of its Super Trofeo series, where, incidentally, American driver Andrew Palmer beat out the competition from Europe and Asia to claim the world title. Prospective buyers for the even more expensive Veneno Roadster were taken for laps to give them a taste of what to expect, because with no roof whatsoever, the open-top supercar wouldn't be our choice for a drive in the rain.
Lambo also brought out the Sesto Elemento, the previous release from the company's new prototype development center, to play on the wet track alongside the anthracite Veneno that remains the company's property. Check out the action in the image gallery above and the video below.