The Lamborghini Huracán is the newest V10 in the Lamborghini family, replacing the legendary Gallardo, the best-selling Lamborghini in the company’s entire history at 14,022 sold (nearly half of all Lamborghinis ever built). The Gallardo left some big wheel wells to fill, but company CEO — and the walking definition of the word “sprezzatura” — Stephan Winkelmann assures that the Huracán is holding its own. The car is “77 percent further ahead in sales than the Gallardo was at this point in its life,” he claims.
Which is good, because Volkswagen AG (who owns Lamborghini) recently announced it’ll be cutting back on any “non-essentials” in production in a effort to dull the pain of the billions they’ll incur from the emissions scandal. Now, do exclusive Italian V10 and V12 supercars fall into the “non-essential” category? If they do, no one seems to have told the Italians — they’re on track for another record-breaking year, and the Huracán is just another fantastic step forward in design, performance and driveability.
Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 Specs
Engine: 5.2-liter turbocharged V10
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch
Horsepower: 602 @ 8,250 rpm
Torque: 413 @ 6,500 rpm
Drive System: AWD
MSRP: $240,745
Lamborghinis of the past are synonymous with excess. Feruccio Lamborghini famously eschewed the race track, instead focusing all his Italian bravado on making the best damn road car possible. This meant steep angles, facets, vents and more vents. You can see the heritage in the Huracán’s design, but the aggressiveness does get toned down, slightly. This Lamborghini is easier on the eyes and easier to live with day to day — in other words, an everyman’s supercar.
Once I got familiar with the Huracán’s dimensions, not only was the supercar easy to tiptoe around Manhattan in rush hour, but by the time I got on the NJ Turnpike and over to West New Jersey, it was no harder to drive than a Passat. This stretch of western New Jersey hides some of the best driving roads in the Tri-State area, and in the foothills of the Appalachians, in “Sport” mode, the Huracán is neither tamer or wilder than I wanted it to be. Oddly enough, this way-easier-to-drive factor is the biggest gripe about new Lamborghinis. Some believe the Sant’Agata supercars have lost their difficulty, but Jason Chinnock (who’s switching roles to CEO of Ducati North America from General Manager for Automobili Lamborghini America) calls bullshit, “Modern Lamborghini’s haven’t lost that fear factor. The people making those claims never really push the car in ‘Corsa’ mode, with all the aids turned off.”
Stuck in Monday-morning commuter traffic on my way back into Manhattan, with the Huracán switched in the tamest mode, “Strada,” I nearly forgot I was driving a 600 horsepower mid-engined supercar. A glance around the cockpit and a quick survey of my fellow commuters, and I was reminded. The interior is flooded with caramel leather, Alcantara and raging bulls; out the windows, passerby stop to take photos on their phones. From ripping through open roads in West NJ to being cradled through the streets of Manhattan in leather and Alcantara, Lamborghini feels infinitely “essential,” and the Huracán an indispensable addition the Italian brand’s ever expanding history.
