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Lamborghini Huracan STO SC 10 Anniversario won't race, but should

Lamborghini's one-make Super Trofeo racing series waved its first green flag in 2009. Installing the season-ending World Finals as a cap to the series didn't start until 2013, the same year the Italian automaker created its Squadra Corse motorsports division, making this year the 10th anniversary of both. In honor of that, and perhaps to the benefit of a client or clients, Lamborghini's Ad Personam custom division created the Huracan STO SC 10 Anniversario, a roadgoing Huracan with a special livery and aero package tweaked by the Squadra Corse racing division. And since the Huracan is also headed into retirement after 10 years on sale, this racing-themed special model repeats history: Lamborghini sold a run of 50 Gallardo LP-570 Squadra Corse coupes for the 2014 model year on the eve of that model concluding its 10-year production run.     The Verde Mantis and Nero Noctis livery shouts out to the SC63 hybrid endurance racer that will compete in the IMSA's Le Mans Daytona Hybrid class starting next year. The Huracan's flourished in the lower classes, having won the GTD class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona three years in a row. Unique touches include the Tricolore band running down the center, "Squadra Corse 10° Anniversario" logos on the sides and rear fin, plus Rosso Mars accents along the carbon fiber package pieces. Inside, a Nero Ade seats are contrasted by Verde Fauns stitching, four-point seat belts, a roll bar, and a carbon fiber floor.  The company says this is the first time the Squadra Corse division has fiddled with a road car. The performance and aero changes count four-way adjustable racing-derived dampers replacing the adaptive shocks, specially developed Bridgestone tires, an Akrapovic titanium exhaust, new carbon fiber flics at the leading edges of the front cover vents, and a rear wing canted an additional three degrees for more rear downforce. The Gallardo Squadra Corse coupes got more downforce from a special rear wing, too, but the racing arm wasn't in charge of that back then. Chief technical officer Rouven Mohr described this as "a concrete demonstration of how experience gained in motorsport can be effectively transferred to the road product, enhancing performance and driving pleasure.

Lamborghini Huracan could become an 850-hp PHEV next year

So far, Lamborghini is celebrating 2022 with record sales and odes to the internal combustion engine thanks to a raft of special editions. The Italian automaker's plunge into electrification starts next year with the next-generation Huracan and its plug-in hybrid powertrain. Lamborghini's head of research and development said, "The engine will be bespoke for Lamborghini. On the final details we can’t yet communicate this, but I would say more than six and less than 12 cylinders for the combustion engine." The easy (well, easier...) option would be to tweak one of the Volkswagen Group's twin-turbo V8s to work with a pair or trio of electric motors. Auto Express says its sources suggest two bits of intel on that engine, the first being that it could be an in-house design "not sourced from VW Group," the second that combined output might exceed 850 horsepower. Such a theoretical coupe would be 169 horses more potent than the Huracan STO and easily satisfy Mohr's assertion that the new generation "from the performance point of view ... will again be a big step." Lamborghini is spending $1.8 billion on its path to an electric future. It's possible the firm could take part of that money to develop a V8 for itself, instantly setting itself apart from the other high-dollar brands in the VW Group. Naturally, we'd love to see that, or even a hybrid V10; what a monster that could be, although heavy, and engineers have been clear about waging a war against weight. The Wolfsburg parent is known to be a huge fan of scale, though, and a V8 or V10 that only serves two vehicles — the Aventador will continue with a V12 even as a plug-in hybrid — seems like a stretch to get approval. Parsing this also depends on how the automaker could define "in-house design." We've seen massively revised engines built around an existing block considered "all-new." The Huracan could debut as soon as next year, one year ahead of the automaker's commitment to electrifying the whole three-car lineup. Autocar says that looking ahead from there, we'll finally get eyes on the battery-electric Lamborghini in 2028. Last year, the predicted window was sometime between 2025 and 2027, and an interview with Lamborghini chief Stephan Winkelmann has clarified a few bits.

Lamborghini has built more Huracans in 5 years than it did Gallardos in 10

Production numbers can be pointless without some sort of context that validates the information. For instance, 14,022 cars built in five years sounds like nothing, but when it's added that those 14,022 units are Lamborghini Huracans, it's more impressive. That specific number is significant because it matches the number of Lamborghini Gallardos produced during its 10-year run, even though the Huracan has only existed for 5 years. Lamborghini has been doing extremely well as of late. Year-over-year sales rose for the eighth consecutive year in 2018, and the Urus SUV is bringing in gobs of new customers. Reportedly, the company might even cap its production for 2020 at 8,000 units in order to maintain a certain level of exclusivity. At the core of the company's identity is the V10-powered Huracan. In the first half of 2019, the Huracan accounted for roughly 26 percent of the 4,553 cars sold, a number that represents a 96-percent increase compared to the same time period in 2018. Since it first debuted as a coupe for 2014, the Huracan line has expanded quite a bit with numerous different styles and performance levels. There's the rear-wheel drive model, the Performante, the EVO, and Spyder variants. The 14,022nd car built is a Huracan EVO coupe wearing a Grigio Titans paint scheme, and it's headed to a customer in Korea. There's no reason to believe Lamborghini demand will slow. The Urus has quickly become a cash-cow in a crossover-hungry market, and the possibility of an electric 2+2 as a fourth model could boost the brand even more.