Lamborghini refuses to follow Norms-cautious Supercar line

Ferrari has planned to reign down the power by downsizing their future engines to meet emission norms and boost fuel efficiency. Take the example of Lambo's sister company Porsche. They are working on hybrid variants of some of their forthcoming models, and using diesel fuel to achieve and tackle the norms without performance-compromise. The industry is also witnessing the sudden upsurge in electric super-cars that deliver adrenaline without exhaust, and a few other firms like Nissan and Toyota are making small investments in the order of a few hundred million dollars in building battery plants for the same reason.

On top of all that, Lamborghini accepts that it will never reach the goals set by governments like the EU and even better, it ensures there won't be any problems because of that. OK, there was a valid point made by Lamborghini's CEO Stephan Winkelmann. He stated that only 2,604 Lamborghinis were sold in the previous year, and nearly all owners drive lesser than 8,000km annually, so the effect due to emissions is very small on a global scale. Furthermore, Lamborghini's flagship model, the Gallardo LP560-4's 560hp V10 engine is not exactly a fuel gulping monster of some sort. At 16.8mpg (US) (14L/100km) on the European combined cycle, it's not quite as bad as the some of the mass-produced vehicles Stateside.

Lamborghini ain't Ford or Toyota. They don't make cars for people to go camping or haul shopping items on weekends. Their cars are driven by people for pleasure, and by that, I mean true motoring pleasure. Lamborghini is by no means trying to optimize production and show impressive sales charts month after month. Their cars are sold to loyal and exclusive customers who understand the purpose of the machine and appreciate it for what it is. By keeping the volumes low and exclusivity high, Lamborghini won't get killed by the threatening EU norms. At least Winkelmann strongly thinks that way.