Global attitudes towards sports cars and other high-end, wasteful cars are quickly shifting. Legislation is being introduced across the globe that intends to ban internal combustion-powered vehicles within just a decade or more and discussions are mounting in Italy whether companies like Lamborghini and Ferrari should get an exemption. Whether or not it will is unclear, but steps like these will certainly help its cause.
Welcome to Headlight! This is a Car Autance daily news feature that lights up one current event in the car world and breaks it down by three simple subheadings: What Happened, Why It Matters, and What To Look For Next. Expect a fresh one every morning, Monday through Friday.
What Happened
Lamborghini has announced its next step in an initiative to make manufacturing its supercars cleaner and closer to carbon-neutral than before. The Sant’Agata Bolognese production facility will be powered by a biomethane plant. Biomethane is basically farts. More specifically, it’s “produced from biogas that is derived from organic matter such as human waste/sewage, food waste, distillery waste or agricultural materials,” (per Clarke Energy).
The iconic Italian supercar company has been trending towards carbon-neutrality and generally emissions-conscious attitudes since 2009, so this is another step towards making the company even cleaner than before. A biomethane plant will be constructed to power the entire Sant’Agata production facility, which is a form of renewable natural gas that is nearly pure methane.
According to Lamborghini, this will reduce CO2 emissions 43-percent further than before, down to an 80-percent reduction in CO2 emissions. From what, Lamborghini does not say. Further, this installation will deliver four million cubic meters of biomethane to the facility, which is enough to power the entire complex, and enough to power 65-percent of the entire company.
This move is another in a series of eco-conscious initiatives that include a park with 10,000 oak trees, bio-monitoring bees, one of the largest solar farms in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, a sustainable logistics project, and a trigeneration and district heating plant.
Why It Matters
Many of these smaller, boutique automakers come under fire for making cars that are more wasteful than normal cars, with large engines and poor fuel efficiency. While the math is debated, the small amount of these cars on the road offsets its overall impact on the environment. Still, legislators don’t ignore them and want everyone to be an equal playing field.
Not to mention the complex social factors that are tightly linked to supercar makers and the optics that surround products like Lamborghini’s. Not only are the cars perceived to be wasteful, but the wealth and excess surrounding them is extremely wasteful and harmful, not just monetarily. Especially in a world where poverty still exists.
The truth is, if these automakers can repay some of that relatively small ecological debt, that is always good. Also, there is a long game here for Lamborghini, beyond its belief that it is “a company that views sustainability as an ethical responsibility.” These proactive moves toward making itself greener and sustainable can help them secure future exemptions for its legacy powertrains like the V12 and V10 that famously powers its supercars. These engines are arguably a majority of the brand identity of any given small-scale supercars maker and to see them go due to Honda Civics needing to pollute less would be a real shame, but Lamborghini intends to hybridize the entire model range alongside this transition to sustainable energy.
What To Look For Next
This is going to be a present initiative rather than a future one. We can expect to see Lamborghini transition to 100-percent renewable energy for its entire company after the large chunk that is handled by the biomethane Sant’Agata facility is brought online. Lamborghini also states that this is part of a larger company initiative called “Direzione Cor Tauri” backed by a 1.5-billion Euro investment over four years, due to complete in 2030.
This program is also reflected by Lamborghini’s intention to make every model in its range a hybrid by 2024 and to introduce a fully electric model by 2030 at the initiative’s end. Whether the current Huracan, Aventador, and Urus will remain past 2024 with their current drivetrains hybridized is yet to be seen.
Either way, this concrete plan from the legendary Italian brand shows everyone that change is startlingly imminent. Within three years, we will see every Lamborghini in some form of hybrid, and that is not far away at all. I say we need to enjoy these V12s and V10s while they still power these cars because their future is unclear and possibly coming to an end. Even with current models like the Huracan STO, the messaging and attitude feels clear. These are the end times of classic Lamborghini.
More great stories on Car Autance
- The auto plant riots in Squid Game were fictional, like the rest of the show, but closely based on very real and very serious events.
- Take a closer look at how refined a Tesla Model 3 really is.
- Find out why police can claim they have “certified” speedometers while most other cars can’t.
- You’re probably familiar with the BMW E46 M3, it’s amazing, but there were a few aftermarket M3 alternatives from that era that are also worth learning about.
- Read our Review Rundown of the new Toyota Tundra to get a big range of perspectives on the new truck in one place.
