Lamborghini releases Aventador Diesel

The Aventador proudly wears its diesel badge, located
under the Lamborghini name

These days, it is becoming increasingly harder for the supercar manufacturers to comply with the ever-tightening emissions law. For some companies, it becomes such a problem that they release a model they never intended to, simply just to stay alive. Look at Aston Martin for example. Do you really think they wanted to release the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet with its weedy 1.33L engine? Of course they didn't, but they had to just to stay on the right side of the law. And now, unsurprisingly, it is Lamborghini that has been hit.


To be fair, the news that Lamborghini is going to release an Aventador Diesel surprises me, and yet it doesn't. It's surprising, simply because 'Lamborghini' and 'Diesel' really shouldn't go together. And yet, it's hardly surprising that a company whose smallest engine is a 5.2L V10 is hit by emission regulation, is it?

From the front, all remains the same. That is good.

Right, more about the car then. A lot of people have instantly started throwing their hands in the air like Italian madmen, but Lamborghini promises the Diesel will be absolutely no less weaker than its petrol counterpart.

Looking at the spec sheet, I can believe that. The Diesel uses the same 6.0L V12 that was originally found in the Audi Q7 V12, although Lamborghini knew it'd be a sin not to up its power a little bit. With the addition of an extra turbo, and seriously heavy ECU fettling, the power has been lifted from 493bhp up to a whopping 647. That, you may notice, is about 50 less bhp than the petrol Aventador, but consider this: the torque figure is is 890lb/ft. Eight hundred and ninety pounds-feet of torque. Bloody god-damn hell.

For some strange reason then, you won't really notice that power drop. 0-60 is done and dusted in 3 seconds flat (thanks to the amazing four-wheel-drive system), and it'll keep going all the way until 208 mph. No arguments, that is definitely supercar performance.

The speedo still goes up to 370km/h!

But this car was created purely to keep Lamborghini in the clear. And sure enough, this car does sip its fuel better than the petrol equivalent. For a 3 second flat pace, you can also get a car that will comfortably do 26mpg. Whether it can do 0-60 in 3 seconds and 26mpg at the same time remains to be doubted by me...

Prices aren't expected to be cheap at all. Insiders are saying the Diesel will be more expensive than the normal Aventador, in fact. But then again, you are getting amazing speed and amazing-for-a-supercar fuel economy. What's not to like?

Oh yeah. The sound. Lamborghini say they have tuned the exhaust so it still gives a grunty noise; a diesel that will actually sound good?!? The answer to that question is currently unknown.

 And it always will be unknown.