No Hoon For You - Lamborghini Says Rear-Wheel Drive Can't Handle The Aventador

For those who really really want to see the biggest and baddest Lamborghini be introduced as a hoontastic rear-wheel drive model at any point in time will have to deal with disappointment, as the Sant’Agata  supercar maker have ruled out the possibility altogether.

The statement quashes any hope gained from the new rear-wheel drive Huracan LP580-2 and, prior to that, the Gallardo Balboni. Apparently, Lamborghini feels that channeling the Aventador’s 690hp V12 exclusively through the rear wheels would diminish the car’s drive, with all that power being too much for the car (and the driver) to handle. 

During a conversation with Autocar, Maurizio Reggiani, Lamborghini’s research and development director, said: “The Aventador can only be four-wheel drive because we have so much power and torque to manage; only with four driven wheels are you able to manage this. This is mainly due to the state of the art of the control systems that we have on the car today. So when we plan Aventador derivatives, we maintain four-wheel drive.”

We’ll concede that Mr Reggiani knows more about this issue than we do in addition to having an amazing job finding out such information. But let it be said that we do think it’s a shame given how the Aventador’s competitors - with comparable power and torque figures - happen to be rear-wheel drive and are better for it. Notably, the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and McLaren 650S. 

Speaking of which, both marques have introduced hybrid hypercars with rear-wheel drive, the LaFerrari and P1, respectively, that are considerably more powerful than the Aventador even in its highest SV configuation, which boasts 740hp. 

While we still believe Lamborghini about where the lines between power, drivability and safety lie for its flagship supercar, positing that the Aventador is just too powerful for rear-wheel drive seems like a tenuous claim in light of the more powerful cars that do not have anything more than two driven wheels. Maybe it’s their Audi genetics that prefer the added traction and manageability that all-wheel drive provides. 

For all the people itching to see a more extreme Aventador, with its wailing V12 sending more raging Italian power to its rear wheels than the rubber knows what to do with in a beautifully chaotic frenzy - well, it’s not happening. At least until the Aventador is succeeded.