Lamborghini boss admits benchmarking Hyundai for new electric car, but didn't like the fake noise
03/20/2025 06:00 PM
The defining feature of Hyundai’s hottest production car – fake engine noises and gear shifts – aren’t on the wish list for Lamborghini’s first electric vehicle.
A humble Hyundai electric car with a not-so-humble $110,000 price can now officially count its involvement in the development of Lamborghini’s first electric car.
But the boss of the Italian supercar brand says he isn’t a fan of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s most unique feature: synthesised engine sounds and gear shifts intended to imitate a petrol car.
Lamborghini’s first electric vehicle is due at the end of the decade as a high-performance coupe inspired by the Lanzador concept, with four seats, a high-riding stance, and at least 1000kW on tap.
It’s promised to make some form of noise, but CEO Stephan Winkelmann suggested it won’t copy the scream of a V12, wail of a V10 or burble of a V8.
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“In terms of the sound, we have not decided yet. This is still something we are looking into,” Winkelmann told media when asked by Drive if Lamborghini’s electric cars will make fake engine noise akin to the Ioniq 5 N.
“Personally – this is not something which has to be true for the future – I tend to disagree on having fake combustion [petrol] engine sounds on electric cars.
“Even if they might – and I have driven the cars you’re talking about – even if they have some good feedback to the driver.
“For me, it’s important beside the sound that you get the feeling of driving a Lamborghini … so how the car is reacting, how it gets into the corner, how it’s braking, how it gets out, so the handling behaviour.
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“And this is something which is very important to underline for the future of the electric cars. For the sound, we still have some time to decide, and it’s not easy, I have to admit.”
It is no surprise that Winkelmann has driven the Ioniq 5 N, as one has been spotted leaving Lamborghini’s headquarters in Italy, but his remarks represent formal confirmation he has tested the car.
Ioniq 5 N drivers can choose between three synthesised driving sounds – including Ignition, intended to echo a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine – which can be linked to a simulated eight-speed transmission with shift paddles.
He said Lamborghini has “four to five years” to determine the sound, as the production version of the Lanzador is not due until 2029 or 2030.
“I’ve driven a lot of different electric cars, [each with] a different type of approach on how to, let’s say, give the feeling of the electrification back to the driver,” said Winkelmann.
“We are developing our own strategy. For sure, there will be one option [which] is to have the silence, because this is one of the familiarities of electric cars. We will have this for sure, when we have our first full electric car.”
The Lamborghini boss told media the focus of the brand’s electric vehicle (EV) as a taller ‘Gran Turismo’ cruiser rather than a low-slung supercar gives it a different set of development parameters.
It will also be more powerful than any other car the company has built.
“The battery-electric vehicles have a higher weight than ICE [petrol] engined cars, and this is something we have to offset, so more power for sure.
“We are speaking of at least one megawatt [1000kW], where we speak about the first full electric Lamborghini. This is important to underline.
“On the other hand, it’s clear that, together with all the innovations which are coming from software, you can have a high handling behaviour which is even giving you the feeling of [lightness], which you have in an extreme supercar.
“And on the other side, we are not entering as a first full electric car into the super sports car [segment] like the Reveulto and Temerario, but we’re going to do a Gran Turismo.
“What is needed is that you have feedback when you sit in the car, and when you have your hands on the steering wheel, that is the same one you have in the internal combustion-engined cars.
“This is something which is difficult to describe, but when you sit in a Lamborghini, you feel it, and it’s different from other manufacturers, which are … working in the same area.”
He added that “acceleration of the BEV [battery-electric] cars is exceeding the ones of the hybrids of the normal ICE cars so this for me is a given, but it’s not the main focus.”
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