- Lamborghini shows off its new carbon fiber pre-collision structure for the upcoming successor to the Aventador.
- The new car will be stiffer and lighter than the Aventador.
- A major change is that there is no longer pushrod suspension, but instead upright springs at each corner.
The recently retired Aventador was the first Lamborghini road car to use a carbon fiber structure. Now the Italian supercar maker has shown us the lighter and stronger “monofuselage” that will sit at the heart of the Aventador’s successor, the as-yet-unnamed model known only by its LB744 engineering code.
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While we still have to wait a while to see the entire car, images of the new structure make it clear that it will stick to the combination of a low roof and the weighty proportions of its famous predecessors. We’d be very surprised if it didn’t. The images also give a chance to see how the new hybridized V-12 and front electric motors will fit into the platform.
The LB744’s chassis will be both lighter and stiffer than the Aventador’s. The structure combines parts made from very strong forged composite – a technology created by Lamborghini and the Callaway golf equipment company – as well as carbon fiber reinforced plastic parts. The most obvious difference over the Aventador is a new carbon front impact structure in front of the passenger compartment that is both lighter and stiffer than the Aventador’s crash frame.
Behind the tub, the LB744 still uses an aluminum structure to mount its engine, transmission and rear suspension components. The images also reveal that the new car will move away from the Aventador’s ultra-elegant pushrod suspension, using more conventional upright springs for the double wishbone suspension at each corner. They also show it riding on Bridgestone Potenza tires.
While we don’t yet have a weight figure for the Monofuselage, Lamborghini’s claimed torsional stiffness of 29,502 pound-feet/degree represents a 25 percent improvement over the Aventador, and is 100 percent better than the 14,751 pound-feet / degree the company quoted for the Murciélago. Although the LB744’s core structure is lighter than the Aventador’s, we expect overall weight to increase due to the mass brought by the hybrid drivetrain’s three electric motors and 3.8 kWh battery pack.
The images also show the striped design of the new car’s roof, which should help improve headroom compared to the tight-fitting Aventador. We’ll see the finished car in full, and learn its new name, at the end of the month.
European editor
Mike Duff has been writing about the motoring industry for two decades and calls the UK home, although he normally lives life on the road. He loves old cars and adventure in unlikely places, with career highlights including driving to Chernobyl in a Lada.
