The year 2026 will be a time of reckoning for electric sports cars, especially within the Volkswagen Group. As the company reportedly tries to cut costs by a massive 20 percent after its EV strategy mostly flopped, many brands within the group are rethinking their priorities. Seeing as how no manufacturer can prove to the world that demand for electric sports cars actually exists, those will likely be the first to go.
Porsche has received the most press coverage on this subject thus far, having reportedly canceled its all-electric 718 after at least seven years of development, telling engineers to redesign the car to fit an internal combustion engine instead. In September, Bentley, another VW Group subsidiary, delayed its EV transition plans to 2035 amid a “dip in demand.”
Now, a similar thing is happening at Lamborghini. Company CEO Stephan Winkelmann told The Sunday Times the company has stopped development of its first electric production car for the same reason every other high-end car manufacturer has either avoided or stopped producing performance EVs: Because there isn’t a market for them.
Mincing No Words
In speaking with The Times, Winkelmann confirmed an earlier rumor suggesting that its upcoming EV, which was initially revealed in concept form under the name Lanzador in 2023, would be converted into a plug-in hybrid instead of a pure electric vehicle after a year of internal discussion and market analysis.
Chief executive Stephan Winkelmann said EV development risked becoming “an expensive hobby” for the Italian company as he confirmed that a forthcoming all-electric car, named in 2023 as the Lanzador, will no longer join its line-up.
Instead it will be replaced by a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), meaning that by 2030, the company’s range will all be PHEV, said Winkelmann. Lamborghini would continue to build internal combustion engines (ICE) “for as long as possible”, he added.
That last part is crucial. People who buy supercars want something sincerely analog, with noises, vibrations, and smells that an EV can’t replicate, no matter how hard companies like Hyundai try with their synthesized gear shifts and piped-in internal combustion engine noises.
Even with this stuff, Lamborghini buyers are, obviously, not convinced. If I were paying half a million dollars for a supercar, I wouldn’t be either. I’d want the real thing, not some replicated experience—even if that experience was high-quality.
Winkelmann told The Sunday Times that the “acceptance curve” for battery-powered cars in Lamborghini’s target market was flattening and “close to zero”.
The company’s customers, he said, valued the “emotional experience” of their Lamborghinis — whether design, raw performance or, crucially, the distinctive sound and feedback of the internal combustion engine.
“EVs, in their current form, struggle to deliver this specific emotional connection,” he explained, confirming that noise — or lack of it, remains a crucial selling point in the luxury car market.
Instead, Lamborghini plans to stick to its hybrid-only strategy for the foreseeable future, according to Winkelmann. As of 2024, its entire lineup, which consists of the Temerario, the Revuelto, and the Urus SUV, uses battery assistance. At their hearts, however, are fire-breathing internal combustion engines (twin-turbo V8s for the Urus and the Temerario, and a V12 for the Revuelto).
That approach has worked out well for the brand. It managed to avoid the 2025 sales dip seen by most of the Volkswagen Group last year, selling a record 10,747 cars, despite tariffs slicing into North American sales.
There’s Still Hope For At Least One VW Group Sports Car
Winkelmann told The Times a fully electric Lamborghini wasn’t truly out of the picture, saying that it’d come to market “when the time is right.” But not every VW Group subsidiary has the same attitude.
Audi revealed a concept for a new TT-shaped sports car last year, with plans to put it into production. The company later confirmed that the car would, in fact, be a fully electric vehicle, despite all of the reasons above why that probably wasn’t a good idea.
Then, just a few days ago, CEO Gernot Döllner reportedly sent an internal letter to employees saying the project was still a go, despite the rumors about the electric Porsche 718’s cancellation (the Audi is widely believed to be using the same architecture as the Porsche).
So if you want a new electric sports car from the VW Group, you’re not totally out of luck. And considering just how low the demand for such vehicles is, you probably won’t have a hard time getting your hands on one.
Top graphic image: Lamborghini
I keep a running tally of what I perceive to be the hysteria of the day, fun to go back and see what everyone thought was the most important issue ever only to forget about it and move to the next most important thing. November 2022 I made an entry about car ads and how focused they were on electric cars, good times.
I would never have assumed that socio-economic group would have cared about the environment.
Which group is that? The group that likes sports cars?
No, supercars.
“There Are ‘Close To Zero’ Buyers For EV Sports Cars”
No, these are supercars.
Bravo for having the hindsight to drop the EV! I have said many times in the past that EV isn’t the solution to the fraudulent “climate changes” and “global warming”. The EV technology isn’t even clean and safe as compared to the ICE technology. StacheD Training often talks about the danger and toxicity of battery thermal runaways.
Mat Armstrong has shown how impossible it was to reset the battery packs following the collision repair. He ended up paying tens of thousands of pound sterling to buy the new battery packs despite the one originally fitted to the car having no damage. That’s good for environment to waste a good, undamaged battery packs, eh? David Tracy was fortunate to have the battery packs replaced in his BMW i3 thanks to Californian law. How many people out there are as lucky as David?
I never understand for the love of God why we have so many different types of charging stations and plugs. That’s good for the enviroment to use so much material to build different types of charging stations, right? ICE uses just one type of sprigot and and pump.
EV sales are artifically boosted by the rebates, tax credits, “favours”, and likes. Not to mention the fleet leasing schemes. Without them, EV stood no chance of succeeding. The sales figures comparing EV and ICE are misleading because the consumers are incentivised to buy or lease EV. Many of them struggled to sell their EVs and saw the massive depreciation of value.
The insurance carriers are starting to push for the lower cost of replacing the battery packs. The carriers in Finland stopped insuring Porsche Taycan and Audi GT e-trons due to the eye-watering cost of replacing the entire battery packs following the collision (as Mad Armstrong has shown in his videos). They want to pressure the manufacturers to come up with lower replacement cost.
The studies purportingly showing that fewer EV catching fire than ICE are manipulated to compare five years of ICE to one year of EV. That’s what Jason Torchinsky used to ululate in his grossly misleading article about the EV being good for environment: he refused to include the toxic emission of thermal runaways and lengthy, difficult process of putting the fire out. Mr Stache pointed out that that the thermal runaways spew lot of toxic chemical in the air, requiring the evacuation of people and animals within 100 metres (in Canada). Do the Google Search for YouTube videos about how the statistics are manipulated to show EV being “safer” than ICE.
[Removed inflammatory ending remark. Please try your best to not attack other readers. – ED]
I wonder if that poster was old enough to rant about unleaded petrol and the disappearance of five star petrol.
Genuine question, from a neutral POV (would consider EV for a second vehicle for my wife’s short commute, but love getting my hands oily as well): how many miles of ICE driving does one thermal runaway equal? Are there more fires as EVs age?
In general, I would like to see a wholly unbiased study on EV’s environmental impact or benefit. But much like with, say, trans rights, I feel like I cannot trust pretty much anyone who releases a study on these questions – everyone who is interested enough to look into the matter is a partisan on the subject.
Why does everything have to have wagon wheels now?
First time seeing these renderings.
I don’t actually hate the looks. It’s got a kind of a lotus eclat meets 308gt4 meets espada meets jalpa thing going. With a charismatic range extender I could see this doing well.
The definition of a sportscar needs to be litigated. To me, it’s simple and agile v.s. boorish power and noise. That’s more GT or rich showoff. I’d rather watch figure skaters wrestle than sumo wrestlers skate. Though, I guess either would be funny once. Isn’t that the point of Dajiban?
“The definition of a sportscar needs to be litigated”
A Miata/MX-5 or rebadge, anything else isn’t.
Off topic: The other day I thought of a great joke (in my own opinion) and said “for the Fiat 124 Spider, Fiat stands for ‘Fix It Again, Takahashi'”, but my mother-in-law just looked at me blankly. I need more Autopians in my actual life.
In other news: water is wet and the sky will be blue on a sunny day. Like who outside of execs drunk on their koolaid imagining Tesla level stock valuations thought EV sports cars were going to be a slam dunk? Especially for companies like Lamborghini where the product is drama. Now I hope we see (in spite of recent slow downs) more EV adoption for the average commuter, and I know eventually the sports cars will have to go but let them go last?
They probably looked at the EU 2035 mandate and figured they would have no choice but to switch to EV’s.
Exactly
EV sports cars can become appealing if manufacturers are willing to compromise performance for character.
In a world where Hyundai can sell you a crossover with a super-low center of gravity, 50-50 weight distribution, advanced torque-vectoring and enough power to light up all 4 wheels, all of those attributes are mundane. Nobody will be impressed with a sports car that has a similar spec sheet, it doesn’t matter if the numbers are bigger, the format is run-of-the-mill.
Agree, I am curious though what do you picture as character in an EV as I feel like it’s not something we’ve really seen? With Toyota’s EV AE86 restomod being arguably the only EV thing I’ve seen that truly got me excited as a car enthusiast.
I personally would want like a giant metal switch to turn it on, then a visible warbling as it “warms up” with colored line segment bars slowly filling up to max. Then let’s get some vandergraff generators on the perimeter of the car to shock anyone who touches it. And plasma balls everywhere we can fit them. Throw in a double din, analog gages, easily swappable components and under $35k.
You can have this:
https://a.co/d/09YVTsnI
It’s all about input, outcome and feedback. It’s a conversation and a collaboration. Cars are physical items, the output and feedback should be clear reflections of my inputs, colored by the physical systems I’m interacting with. Sometimes, if you request the wrong thing, it’ll give you exactly what you asked for, and it’ll suck. That’s personality. I wouldn’t want to talk to someone who never calls me out on my mistakes.
For simple electronic sub-systems such as traction control, it’s like a conversation between three entities, where I can speak directly to the chassis, but it has a goblin on its shoulder that occasionally says “No! Not so fast! He leads us astray, precious!”. You can experience the car’s character, because you’re able to have that conversation with it directly, even if sometimes a third party intervenes.
More complex fly-by-wire systems lock the car’s whole system in a dressing room, and let you speak to a well-groomed PR manager, who relays your messages to the chassis and its messages back to you. You’re sure the manager means well, but everything you hear back from the dressing room is rehearsed, smoothed out and tailored to flatter you.
I’d say there are three “obvious” paths to giving an EV character:
I have high hopes for the Caterham Project V. I hope it lives up to at least some of my desires, I hope it’s a smashing success and I hope it puts the whole industry on notice.
What with the missile launcher-looking device in the center console? I don’t get the passenger screen. What goes there?
I’d be OK with it actually being, a missile launch control. You know, for those asshole drivers. Karma.
In my view, the best use case for BEV powertrains in road vehicles is in luxury-focused vehicles.
So make the successor to the Urus a BEV. For their V8 and V12 sports cars, keep them as hybrids… though it would be nice if they had ‘Speciale’ versions with a manual transmission, the engine and very minimal electrification… aimed at the driver who just wants to drive these for fun and isn’t gonna take them to the track and doesn’t care if it’s not the fastest… just as long as it’s more than fast enough to be fun.
Daily drivers. EVs make great people movers, grocery getters, and commuters. They’re quiet, efficient, easy to maintain, and they can be luxurious and comfortable.
Performance cars should still be powered by internal combustion. Gas engines stir the soul in a way EVs never will, and that’s the whole reason performance cars exist.
Still, I applaud Dodge for at least trying to make a fun EV. The fratzonic sound thing is dumb in the best way, just like an obnoxiously loud LS with a lumpy camshaft is dumb in the best way.
Fun EVs exist. Our government doesn’t want us to get them though.
Xiaomi SU7 Ultra–my body is ready.
For the temerario they do indeed sell something close to a “speciale” version. The super-trofeo racecar (as well as the GTD version) ditches all the electric battery stuff and while it’s not a stick manual, it is a racing straight-cut gearbox that still requires a pedal clutch to get going. Very far away from being road legal so you can’t use it to look good/douchy driving down your local streets, but still…
Why buy a Lamborghini dishwasher when you can buy a cheaper dishwasher (any other EV). EVs have their place, and I expect them to be a larger slice of the pie for car sales, but for me they are another computer/phone/blu-ray player. How much are blu-ray players now? Not quite as bad as 3D TVs, but nobody’s paying top dollar for one now.
Also that thing up top looks like a Grand Theft Auto car.
“I’d still have to fix the rear suspension and axle just to sell the car,”
Bragging rights, snob appeal and separating yourself from the Poors.
LOL
Wait, the ultra rich don’t care about saving money on gas or the environment? Who could have guessed?!?!
*inserts shocked Fry gif*
They’ve given up on the rest of us. The reason for all of their bunker construction and private islands purchases, manned by their own private security forces.
See the problem is, when the world ends, those guards are going to realize they are the ones with the guns now.
Shocked. I’m Shocked!
No, really, I’m not.
I’m 95% sure that this was going to share a whole lot of platform development with other VW stablemates – and if you kill off one of them, the rest die too.
And everytime someone writes “Winkelmann” for Stephan Winkelmann that I picture, in my head, Claudia Winkleman saying the words.
Negative surprise here.
Sportcars are 1000% about emotion, and about the most emotionless thing I can think of is an EV. One pedal go fast, other pedal, go slow. Turn wheel (or God forbid an idiotic yoke), it turns. All the while making various whining noises. Yawn. I don’t want that level of uninvolvement in my grocery-getters, never mind the cars that I own that are *supposed* to be just for fun. The dorks that like that sort of thing all have Teslas already.
Been having an ongoing debate with a friend of mine who is pro-EV (which is totally fine with me) where he keeps insisting EVs are better and more “fun” because of the instant acceleration. I pointed out that driving enjoyment is not solely about straightline acceleration for most enthusiasts. If it were, the Miata, GR86 and other cars would never have lasted. As you said, the dorks who just want their car to be like any other appliance in their lives (dishwasher, fridge, etc.) can have their soulless Teslas. Enjoy paying Elon for that self-driving subscription.
Exactly how I feel. If I just want to be tossed around by g-forces, I will buy a ticket to an amusement park. I don’t need (or want) to go fast, I just want to have fun. Slow fun is lots safer, especially to your wallet and insurance rating.
It’s actually my gripe with ALL modern cars, EVs just make it 10X worse. They aren’t fun at sane speeds, the speeds that they get fun at are not safe on the street, and I have no real interest in tracks. I can drive the bejeebus out of my Spitfire, having the time of my life, and nobody will notice other than the big grin on my face.
That instant acceleration advantage, and digging out of the cones/corners, first got me bumped up one class in a local autocross group I compete in, and then banned by complaining distraught owners of other cars we (the few EV owners) were laying waste to.
On one hand it’s not solely about straightline acceleration. On the other hand every generation Miata has gotten faster 0-60 because most enthusiasts want fast and every generation of the 86 most enthusiasts say neat car needs more fast.
going to be a strange world when the masses are forced into disposable/subscription EVs where everything you do and everywhere you go is tracked, monitored and can be disabled the central authorities when you don’t agree with them… and yet the elites will still be flying private to catch up with their yacht and driving their ICE vehicles to wherever it is they drive to show up on instragram posts.
They can already do that now with your ICE car. When I sold GM products they used to brag about how every car over the last decade has OnStar that is capable of remotely shutting off the car if the police tell them to. That has nothing to do with EVs
This. There are multiple worrying trends like privacy, enshittification, inflation, and size creep, but they are fairly independent and unfair to pin them all on EVs
New to Planet Earth? We already have subscription services for everything, including flushing your toilet. The disposable in manufacturing has been the defacto situation for years.
Because nobody tracks private planes or yachts?
*facepalm*
I cannot fathom being this ignorant and paranoid at the same time
Toecutter will save the masses, we will be driving around in our 100 mpg fully repairable super trikes that our grandparents used 100 years ago.
I think part of the problem is differentiation. Regular EVs are already stupid fast for street use, with super low CG for reasonably good handling (for 5000-6000 lb cars). How do you sell that some commodity parts in a different wrapper are worth 200k+ more than a Hyundai?
100% this. When the recipe is “put 1000hp in the floor” and the drive units are so heavy that the cabin barely affects weight distribution, you end up with crossovers that drive like supercars. And when crossovers drive like supercars, a=b, b=a, badda-bing, badda-boom, now your supercars drive like crossovers.
Modern supercars, EV or not, should not start in the cold, have some squeaks and rattles, and have a fluid leak or two from the factory. How better to differentiate your product? Just make it simulated like exhaust sounds or fake shifts. Don’t forget to top off your SLF (simulated leak fluid) at your next $3500 service!
Agree completely. If couscous and caviar taste the same, caviar is a tough sell.
Yeah, the people here preaching about sports car purity and emotional connection are just talking to themselves. This was an electric SUV, no one buying it would care about any of that anyway.
The number of supercar and sports car manufacturers that think a silent version of their vehicles is a good idea have forgotten the base child-like appeal of them in the first place. Remember when you first found out about a V12?
Dad’s pickup or muscle car might have 8 cylinders but these little wedge-shaped cars have 12!? How cool is that?
If it doesn’t have an exotic engine, how is it any different than any other super fast EV?
It has a lower, sleeker body?
Which is how an 8 cylinder Ferrari was/is different from an 8 cylinder LTD or F150?
Those renders are not lower or sleeker than a Lucid or Tesla, they actually look a bit higher. Exotics also put the engine behind the driver sometimes but EVs have stuck with their skateboard construction since the beginning.
It’s just styling which won’t convince buyers to shell out 3-4x what a Lucid Sapphire costs to be slower.
There are a lot of people holding deposits for Tesla Roadsters and purchasing Yangwang U9s who would beg to disagree.
People buying V12’s in 10-20 years will be like the guys who simply must have tube and wire turntable systems.
To me, it seems that EVs could easily lead to the democratization of supercars.
And Lamborghini doesn’t like that – for obvious reasons
Agreed, the supercar may very well end up like tube amps and turntables for foreseeable future. Lamborghini and the other exotic brands will need to figure out something to make them stand out
Perhaps tufted velour interiors with faux-wood trim, chromed wire wheels and padded vinyl roofs?
Lamborghini Brougham D’elegance!
You can sort of do it with EVs. I hear the Lucid motor is one-of-a-kind. So maybe ppl will seek unique power units either bc they are nerds or are sold on the marketing that one particular design is superior.
I can see motors or batteries being made out unique materials with unique properties being a thing in the EV future. That’s a great point.
I can’t help but to feel like part of the EV collapse is due to automakers building out models for the wrong reasons. I don’t think they looked at actual products and sales to build their roadmaps. I think they looked at Tesla stock and then boards and executives made directives based on FOMO, not any market or product fundamentals. It isn’t a surprise then when the product is the wrong one and the markets completely misunderstood.
You make a great point. I wonder if this is also based of their current ICE model of R&D where the expensive brands try new powertrain technology first because the high profit margins allow for costs to be recouped faster. It makes sense for Bentley and Cadillac but not so much for Porsche and Lamborghini.
Correct. If we really wanted EVs to be more efficient for commuting, we’d make the Corolla or Civic of EVs. Why did people buy those cars and drive them forever? Because they were efficient and cost-effective in every way. But most EVs now are a fortune and depreciate in ways only the rich can absorb. They’re status symbols, plain and simple. Nobody is buying a $100k Rivian to have an efficient commuter.
To be fair, most ALL cars are a fortune. For all the high priced Rivians, there are also Chevy bolts and the like driving around under the radar
They did. They catered to a rich market ($$) and not the common market.
I am not surprised in the very least
I actually want a completely silent car. No engine, exhaust, or wind noise. Give me all the performance without the teen boyhood screaming. But then I’m not in the tax bracket for supercar purchases.
Blessed silence.
From Remo Williams The Adventure Begins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1rfCS7kwK8
Also obligatory Star Trek reference with Kate Mulgrew pre Captain Janeway.
The Model Y Performance – my choice for the introvert’s sports car, well, at least for straight-line speed and decent enough handling for the street. The fact that it isn’t too expensive and is probably the best all around, do it all vehicle is a bonus for me so far. When I don’t have kids to shuttle around, I will likely go back to a sedan based design but so far, no regrets. It is absolutely not a supercar but it is fun despite what all of the people online like to say about “soul less EVs”. Go drive one and most people convert quickly.
The design and performance should be pretty easy to duplicate with an EV, maybe even easier.
But, yes, for a brand whose identity and primary selling point is loud, raucous noises it would seem EVs would not be a good direction. They don’t really have much else to hang their hat on.
Legendary build quality …
The financial problems in the VW group continue, project cancellations everywhere and increasing doom and gloom from the accounting department (and daily news).
Yet, broke ass Audi is apparently still pushing for the EV TT. Amazing
Broke ass VW group, as a whole.
Out of all the sporty EVs in VAG, the EV TT makes the most sense since it’ll sell to hairdressers and whoever as an attainable designer’s car. The 718 EV made no sense because as a Porsche, it must focus completely on the driving experience.
ID.Buzz is totally canceled
Lanzador is totally canceled
718 is also canceled
And all other events are pending
Maybe the all electric sports cars would sell better if the piped in “engine noises” sounded more like the noise that the Jetson’s space car made.
Maybe electric sports cars would sell better if they cost less. Wait, are there ANY two door electric sports cars actually being sold?
MG Cyberster – Not available in the US – Chinese made 0 $70kus
Maserati GranCabria Folgor $200k (never seen one of these)
RIimac Nevera – $2.1M – May not be available in the US.
I would be interested in owning a 2 door electric sports car that was US Made and cost less than $65k. Even though this is 2x a Miata…I like driving electric.
Used BMW i8s go for 40-80k depending on condition…
The Cyberster is more like $44,000 USD on the Chinese domestic market, there’s also the JMEV 01 at $32,000
I’d love an electric sports car “like a Miata”, but don’t make it a Miata. The Miata needs to stay as it is. A gas engine available with a stick. Maybe a hybrid at most. But it’s already really efficient for what it is. Our 2016 has a lifetime MPG average of about 33.5mpg in mixed driving and the drag coefficient is way worse than you would think it is, especially when the top is down.
Honestly, I think the formula is a good one. However, packaging all that into a Miata-sized car is gonna balloon the weight up.
IF the manufacturer can deliver a near 50/50 weight distro and strong enough motors in addition to making the vehicle handle like a go-kart, they might have a fighting chance with such a vehicle.
However, they’re up against a segment of the market where purist cars pretty much need to be ICE. Overcoming that in the minds of potential buyers is going to be the biggest hill to climb for such a manufacturer.
Someone like Lamborghini should be contracting famous composers and sound effects people to develop a range of selectable drive noise. Synthetic ICE is only going to disappoint most people for phoniness, looking backwards, essentially acknowledging that EVs aren’t as exciting, and being deeply unimaginative for a company that embraces extroverted visuals inspired by designs that were—at one time—shockingly different.
Exactly this. Every movie with an EV has an awesome noises, GIVE THEM TO US.
I really wanted one of those Borla speaker systems for my EV (because I’m juvenile), but I was waiting for the choice of a great sci-fi sound instead of fake ICE they launched with. I guess nobody else wanted fake ICE noises either because they gave up development.
Intriguing challenge. How do you breathe life into something that doesn’t breathe? Any enthusiast that relied on picking up an errant noise before bad went catastrophic, and reveled in the symphony of harmonic harmony, detests the idea of synthetic noise. Perhaps sound tubes from the motor and reduction gearbox routed through an acoustic chamber to drop an octave or two. Still, that music got no soul.