Lamborghini Revuelto or how to sell an emotion
Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series. Check our initial impressions of the Lamborghini Revuelto here.
Buying a supercar. What's it really like?
For the uninitiated, it may sound something the super-rich do on a whim. In reality, however, it often involves a lot of careful planning and obsessing over every detail of your new, ultra pricy, ultra lightweight, ultra fast plaything. And then you have to wait until it arrives, sometimes for years.
On the manufacturer's side, producing the car requires spending a lot of human work hours, with highly skilled laborers making sure every detail of the car's interior and exterior is perfect, and tuned to the future owner's desires.
Shortly after revealing the new Lamborghini Revuelto, the company's first-ever hybrid supercar, the company took journalists for a tour around the factory, where the production of the Revuelto is being ramped up before deliveries to customers can start.
Lamborghini's production line values precision
If I had to describe Lamborghini's production line in one word, it would be precision. In one part of the factory, lumps of carbon fiber are being molded and laminated to create the Revuelto's ultra-light monocoque. In another, the vehicle's dizzyingly complex, new hybrid drivetrain is being painstakingly put together. In some areas, we are forbidden to take photos; some are completely off limits, and we can only see them from afar.
Attention to detail and respect for the fancy materials used in the construction of a supercar are on display at every corner. Here's an example: The nappa leather that will be used in a car's interior is first inspected in a large machine, equipped with four projectors and electronic pens, that lets the worker mark the parts that need to be cut without even touching the leather. The leather then goes into an automatic cutting machine, with knives that descend from above and precisely remove the marked bits. I ask, why go to such trouble to cut the leather? The answer from one of the company's engineers is: Lamborghini wants to make sure the leather isn't tarnished in any way.
The company's execs keep reminding us how highly skilled the workers in the factory are. You can't just start working on an actual Lamborghini on your first day on the job; some roles require weeks of specialized training; for some, workers have to train a minimum of six months before they can begin.
Lamborghini buyers can choose from a variety of color combinations both for the car's exterior and interior, and they can also pick minute details such as custom images stitched onto the seats. In one part of the factory, we glimpse another way in which the customers get to feel special: a massive table is prepared for a dinner for the first Revuelto buyers, who get to enjoy fine Italian food whilst looking at the innards of their semi-assembled, future Lambos.
Revuelto's customization extends to the infotainment
In the Revuelto, the customization is extended onto the car's infotainment system. Lamborghinis of old haven't had a lot of displays; the multitude of knobs and switches you'll find in an Aventador are there to evoke the feeling of being in a race car or, perhaps, a rocket.
The Revuelto still has its fair share of physical gizmos to press, but it also has three displays: one for the pilot (that's the driver), another for the copilot (that's the passenger), and a center display that's pretty much what you'll find in most modern cars — displaying incoming calls, climate controls, and media details. It can all be customized by dragging, dropping, and rearranging various items with simple touch gestures. Yes, it's not exactly unheard of (Lamborghini's newer Huracans have a similar, albeit smaller, center display), but for Lamborghini's flagship car, it's a massive leap forward. Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto support is here, I've been told, and if you want to talk to your Lambo, you'll be speaking to Amazon's Alexa, which is the only voice assistant on board.
I asked Lamborghini's CTO, Rouven Mohr, about the car's hybrid drivetrain and the screen-friendly interior, and whether these could alienate the company's long-time supporters. "Our customers know that this is the path forward. But trust me, the Revuelto is still very much a Lamborghini," he told me. All of the traits that make the Lambo a Lambo — the nutty acceleration, the growling sound, the outrageous design — are still here, Mohr assured me. And the most important part of a Lamborghini, the emotion that it incites, is more powerful than ever, he added.
We finish the day with a set of interviews with Lamborghini's execs next to yet another Revuelto posing for photographs. Sitting inside its incredibly low-positioned seat and playing with its gadgets, it's easy to forget that this thing isn't something that most people, including me, will be able to buy. Still, the Revuelto, which starts at about $600,000, is selling like hot cakes. If you want one, and have the cash to buy it, you'll have to wait about two years to get it. Fantasizing about owning one, as always, is free.
Topics Cars
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
