Lamborghini Shows Absolutely Stunning Electric Hypercar Concept
Lamborghini has a long history of ludicrous designs. When the Miura came out in 1966, it was unlike anything that had come before. The following decade yielded the Countach, which possesses a wedge-shaped geometry that would still look at home in any sci-fi romp Hollywood could muster. But, while Lamborghini continues to produce stunning automobiles, it’s the company’s concept vehicles and one-offs that push the styling envelope clear off the desk.
The Aventador-based Veneno is a personal favorite. However, other bonkers examples, like the Egoista, Athon, and Marzal leave me wondering what might have been if the manufacturer figured out how put them into production. Its newest concept car is no exception. In fact, Lamborghini has to find a way to build it, as it’s too beautiful to exist as just a dream.
However, the definition of beauty, in this case, amounts to wildly futuristic and so aggressive that it would not be hyperbolic to call the car’s look “hateful.” Lamborghini calls it the Terzo Millennio, which means “third millennium.” An apt description, considering you could toss the vehicle into Blade Runner 2049 as a new model without anything seeming even slightly out of place. The Terzo Millennio’s design expertly combines razor-sharp edginess with just enough curves to keep it sexy.
However, as a concept vehicle, Lamborghini has to equip it with fantasy tech and a battery-driven powertrain. Currently, the hypercar is only powered by imagination, but the automaker says it has intentionally joined forces with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to rewrite the rules on what a supercar is supposed to be — something the Terzo Millennio is supposed to represent.
Batteries won’t be enough, according to Lamborghini. Instead, it wants to design a completely novel supercapacitor and toss electric motors into each wheel hub. Its design even alludes to the the technology, denoted by the copper-colored wheels.
The company says the entire point of the Terzo Millennio is to address the future of supercars in five different dimensions — “energy storage systems, innovative materials, propulsion system, visionary design, and emotion.” While the last two seem to be covered from every single angle, the rest are largely theoretical at this point.
“Collaborating with MIT for our R&D department is an exceptional opportunity to do what Lamborghini has always been very good at: rewriting the rules on super sports cars,” explained Stefano Domenicali, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Automobili Lamborghini. “Now we are presenting an exciting and progressive concept car. We are inspired by embracing what is impossible today to craft the realities of tomorrow: Lamborghini must always create the dreams of the next generation.”
The way the automaker talks about its new pet project, it actually sounds like it doesn’t expect these ideas to garner fruit until pretty close to the year 3000 — which is a long time for us to wait, frankly.
Some of the ideas are implausibly futuristic, the worst of which is the implementation of a “self-healing” carbon fiber body. The hypothetical self-repairing process begins through micro-channels filled with “healing chemistries,” eliminating any small crack from propagating further into the carbon fiber structure. Lamborghini says the end result is “further weight reduction with increased use of carbon fiber or the application of CFK to high-fatigue parts.”
While we would absolutely love for such technology to exist on every single vehicle ever made and believe it’s a technology worth pursuing immediately, it’s okay for the company to build the Terzo Millennio without it if means we can see it on the road a few hundred years earlier.
It’s worth mentioning that the aerodynamics are real and the high-concept propulsion system is already in the development phase, at least on some level. Unfortunately, the design might be married to those wheel-mounted motors. Otherwise, we’d suggest developing some high-tech hybrid, cramming it into a prototype, and starting production before the end of the next decade.
In the end, the Terzo Millennio is aspirational. An out-of-the-box concept that gives Lamborghini something to strive for. But there wouldn’t be any harm in trying to get there quickly, would there?
[Images: Lamborghini]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Love it, reminds me of the original Stratos concept. That car was also not practical, but look at the production car it inspired.
Those wheels will never work. The field coils are too loose and are too far away from the stators. Who wants that much unsprung rotating mass, anyway? Okay, tractors do.