The Drive Report: Lamborghini Revuelto

Lamborghini Revuelto

You don’t need a badge to identify this car. One glance at the scissor doors, the low-slung, arrow-like silhouette and the tense, predatory stare tells you it belongs to only one brand. Plenty of manufacturers build mid-engined supercars, but Lamborghini has always sat in its own orbit.

Their latest V12 flagship, the Revuelto, reinforces that distinction immediately. It feels like a continuation of everything the brand stands for while simultaneously stepping into unfamiliar territory. And that duality is intentional. Lamborghini has long argued that a supercar is meaningless without the drama of internal combustion. EVs may chase absurd acceleration, but Lamborghini focuses on sensation – sound, theatre, presence, lineage. For many of us who grew up idolising poster cars, that identity is non-negotiable. Mine was a purple Diablo.

So encountering a matte-grey Revuelto with faint purple accents outside Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata headquarters feels strangely personal. Nearly ten years ago, I visited the same place to test a bright green Huracán. This time, the stakes – and the car – feel much larger. The Revuelto’s swollen, muscular stance has a way of making its driver feel unworthy. It’s the kind of machine you imagine Bruce Wayne stepping into, not someone who usually gravitates toward an Abarth. Still, intimidation has never stopped anyone from driving a Lamborghini, so it’s time to dive in.

The Revuelto represents a pivotal transition for the company. The Aventador never had to navigate a changing technological landscape, but its successor does. Lamborghini must prove that it can embrace hybrid technology without softening the primal character that turned teenagers into lifelong fans. Rivals continue to defend purely petrol V12s, yet Lamborghini has chosen a more complicated path: keep the V12, but electrify the platform around it.

The 6.5-litre V12 survives intact in displacement and aspiration but has been completely redesigned. It now sits rotated by 180 degrees and makes 814 bhp, the highest specific output of any Lamborghini V12 at 125 bhp per litre. The combustion engine is only part of the story; three electric motors complete the powertrain. Two motors drive the front axle, while a third supports the rear, taking the combined output to 1001 bhp – Lamborghini’s first four-digit figure. Despite the hybrid hardware, the car’s dry weight is contained to 1772 kg, allowing it to rocket from 0-100 kph in well under three seconds.

Visually, the Revuelto is impossible to ignore. Its bodywork blends the hostility of the Veneno with familiar cues from the Aventador, but the overall result is sharper, denser and far more technical. Purists may miss the purity of older Lamborghinis, but this design leaves no room for doubt about the company’s intentions. The LED-framed headlights, the elaborate aero channels, and the aggressively sculpted surfaces create a look that is unmistakably Lamborghini, even if it trades elegance for complexity.

Switching to Corsa releases the full brutality. Unless you possess superhuman bravery, avoid switching ESC fully off. In Corsa, the electric motors and V12 work together seamlessly, delivering a clean, unrelenting surge rather than a chaotic rush. The steering is crisp and communicative, grounding the car even as speed builds with alarming ease. Importantly, the electric motors never overshadow the V12. They enhance it, but the emotional core remains the combustion engine.

From a technical standpoint, the Revuelto is a massive leap. It generates more than 60% additional downforce and offers roughly 25% greater torsional rigidity than the Aventador. Where the Aventador always carried its mass into corners, the Revuelto masks weight with far more sophistication. Rear-wheel steering sharpens responses, while the front electric motors enable all-wheel-drive behaviour without traditional mechanical linkages.

Open the throttle and the power arrives with seismic force, each shift from the new 8-speed dual-clutch gearbox delivering a satisfying jolt of theatre. Every drive feels like an occasion. The Revuelto checks every box a modern supercar must – and then pushes beyond it.

The cabin mirrors that high-tech approach. Moving the gearbox longitudinally has opened up an extra 84 mm of space, making the cockpit slightly more forgiving without numbing the supercar feel. The barrage of switches and screens looks daunting at first, but within minutes everything begins to make sense. A vertically oriented central display handles most functions with far less frustration than some competitors’ systems. On the steering wheel, you’ll find all the drive modes – City, Strada, Sport and Corsa – along with the EV settings: Recharge, Hybrid and Performance. Adjusting the rear wing for more or less downforce is a simple operation. And interestingly, the car doesn’t produce the trademark V12 roar at start-up unless it’s in full combustion mode. For a machine with such explosive capability, the Revuelto is surprisingly gentle and far less intimidating than the V12 Lamborghinis of the past.

On the winding roads of Emilia Romagna, the hybrid system proves genuinely useful. It extends the car’s effective range, and when fuel dips to reserve levels, electric power can nurse the car toward a petrol station – just barely, but it’s possible. Press the EV button and the huge V12 falls silent, leaving the car to glide through towns like an oversized ghost. Seeing a mid-engined wedge moving in complete silence tends to confuse bystanders, at least until you reselect Hybrid mode, at which point the engine erupts back to life with a sharp, eager bark. Regenerative braking is present but best treated as a way to cover those final stretches between opportunities to refuel.

The Revuelto may not be the first hybrid supercar, but it stands as the most fully realised interpretation of the concept so far. Lamborghini’s gamble – combining its legendary naturally aspirated V12 with electric propulsion – has paid off on the first attempt. The electric motors elevate performance, add practicality, and soften the edges without diluting the essence. Its ability to behave politely one moment and unleash ferocity the next makes it both perfectly suited to today and destined to be remembered for decades.