Lamborghini Design Boss Mitja Borkert Takes Us Inside the Hybrid Huracán Successor
Most people think Mitja Borkert has a dream job, and he does, at least if you ask him. But for someone less confident, less grounded, his job would be a nightmare. His task as Lamborghini’s head designer since 2016 has been to follow-up on the work of Marcello Gandini, who defined not only Lamborghini, but the supercar itself, with machines such as the Miura, Countach, and Diablo.
Yet in his usual cheery fashion, Borkert stepped out of a friend’s wedding earlier this summer to jump on a video call and treat us to a private unveiling of a top-secret, then-unreleased supercar known internally by its codename “634.” To the rest of the world, it was known as the Huracán’s successor, and it was unveiled at Pebble Beach in August.
The car Borkert and his team came up with is striking. The surfaces are cleaner, stronger, but the overall form feels somehow lighter and more cohesive compared to its big brother, the V12 Lamborghini Revuelto. From the rear, it’s all fat tires and sharp angles. Maybe there’s a hint of Countach in the silhouette?
“Lamborghini has to follow its DNA, the silhouette, but there must always be something unexpected,” Borkert explained. “Each car that was designed under my responsibility has its own character,” he added, “and that is, I think, the fact that I’m most proud about.”
Like the Miura and Countach before it, the Huracán’s successor is breaking new ground. The naturally aspirated V10 is gone — for obvious emissions-related reasons — and replaced by an all-new V8 that spins to a stratospheric 10,000 rpm. The controversy comes from the fact the new motor is attached to a pair of turbochargers and aided by a tri-motor plug-in hybrid system.
Asked how the new high-revving hybrid engine sounds, Borkert would only say, “You will get goosebumps.”
While we’re left waiting (impatiently) to find out whether Lamborghini’s plug-in hybrid future lives up to its storied past, Borkert is all smiles as he waves goodbye and runs back to his friend’s wedding.
