Lamborghini has cancelled its first EV because nobody wanted one

Lamborghini is the latest luxury car maker to rethink its plans for electrification, as the battery-powered Lanzador due out in 2028 is shelved.

The Italian supercar company decided to cancel a fully-electric version of the Lanzador at the end of 2025, with chief executive Stephan Winkelmann making the news public this week.

A plug-in hybrid version of the radical SUV-coupe is now being planned for 2029, which will be six years since the Lanzador was first revealed as an electric concept.

I was among a handful of journalists who drove that concept car back in 2023. While essentially just a show car with a crude, low-power electric drivetrain beneath the wild bodywork, the Lanzador demonstrated what a 1,300-horsepower Lamborghini EV might look and feel like.

The idea of the car – plus its proportions, styling and interior – impressed me greatly. But there was always a nagging doubt about how an electric Lamborghini would stir the soul of its driver without the hallmark exhaust note.

This concern was brought into sharp focus when Lamborghini's own press event announcing the EV was interrupted by the sound of a supercar passing by outside. The question that didn’t need asking was, how can an electric Lambo catch the attention of a room full of petrolheads like that mystery passer-by did? The answer, now clear for all to see, is that it can’t.

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Speaking to The Sunday Times, Winkelmann said demand from Lamborghini customers for an electric car was “close to zero”. Instead of investing any further into an EV, Lamborghini will now focus on offering an entirely hybrid product range by 2029, comprising four distinct models.

These are expected to include revisions of the current Temerario and Revuelto supercars – both of which are already hybrids – along with the Urus SUV and a new model related to the Lanzador concept.

Speaking to Wired, the Lambo boss added that, after questioning dealers and analysing customer data, “it was clear not only that the acceptance of full electric cars is flattening worldwide for our type of cars, it’s going almost to zero – if not to zero.”

This is an increasingly common theme across the luxury car and supercar landscape. While cheaper electric cars are gaining in popularity, thanks to successes like the reborn Renault 5, and SUVs like the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60 are now breaking through the 500-mile range barrier, electric sports and supercars are practically a non-starter.

Mate Rimac admitted in 2024 that his company’s Nevera electric hypercar had sold poorly and won’t be succeeded by another EV. Porsche – with its all-electric Boxster and Cayman sports cars waiting nervously in the wings – has lost billions of euros to weakening electric car sales. Bentley has delayed its plans for going all-electric by five years.

Aston Martin and McLaren are both yet to say when their first EVs might arrive, if ever. Maserati recently cancelled plans for an electric version of its McPura supercar due to a lack of demand. Bugatti's next car, the Tourbillon, will be a hybrid with a V16 engine.

Ferrari has quickly become the outlier, soldiering ahead with its all-new Luce. A four-seat EV with an interior designed by Sir Jony Ive, a dual-motor powertrain with over 1,000 horsepower, a trick sound generation system likened to a guitar amp, the Luce will be revealed fully in May.

Ferrari had probably once hoped it would be entering a vibrant market of luxury, high-performance EVs. But instead, the Luce is about to show the world whether a supercar company can succeed without cylinders, or not.