New 1000bhp Lamborghini Revuelto order books full until 2026

Yet it was one that Lamborghini was able to win due to both overwhelming support from existing customers and the use of hybridisation to cut emissions.

Driving an all-new eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox mounted behind it, the new engine – turned 180deg compared with the Aventador's – is 17kg lighter than the one in the car it replaces but makes more power, delivering 814bhp at a searing 9250rpm, with the limiter not calling time until 250rpm later.

The battery pack sits in what would previously have been considered the transmission tunnel and stores a modest 3.8kWh of charge - good for an electric-only range of around six miles. The fact that the charging port is within the front luggage compartment suggests it is not intended to be plugged in very often.

However, the V12 can directly recharge the battery pack through the rear motor in a process that's claimed to take just six minutes.

The pack is much lighter than most batteries, weighing 70kg, with the front motors adding another 80kg of mass. Fuel economy and CO2 figures haven’t been finalised, but Lamborghini says both will be around 30% better than the Aventador Ultimae's.

The battery’s peak flow rate is the limiting factor on electrical assistance, with a maximum of 140kW equating to 187bhp. Each of the three motors can take up to 147bhp, allowing the battery’s output to be juggled accordingly - and with torque biasing across the front axle.

The rear electric motor adds assistance to one shaft in the dual-clutch gearbox, meaning it is possible for the two sides of the Revuelto’s powertrain to be driving different gears simultaneously.

Like the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 and Countach LPI 800-4 hyper-hybrids, as well as the Ferrari SF90, the Revuelto will reverse under electrical power only, but has the ability to drive all four wheels.

The Revuelto will be heavier than the Aventador, despite weight savings throughout the structure. The new car’s carbonfibre tub is both lighter and 40% stiffer than the last generation's and now features a composite front crash structure - a world first in a road car.

But the bulk of the hybrid system means that overall mass is still higher. Lamborghini hasn’t released a formal kerb weight, but the promise of a power-to-weight ratio of 563bhp per tonne puts it at 1776kg.

Underneath, the Aventador’s pushrod-operated suspension has been replaced by conventional upright springs for the twin wishbones at each corner. Lamborghini CTO Rouven Mohr says the new arrangement has packaging advantages and improvements in damper technology have allowed equal performance from conventional mountings.

The Revuelto will also get standard rear-axle steering plus active aerodynamic elements. There isn’t an official figure for peak downforce but we’re told it will be about the same as the Aventador SVJ made with its adjustable wing in its lowest-drag configuration.

The car's design draws on many familiar Lamborghini themes and keeps the trademark wedgy proportions that stretch back to the Countach. But there is lots of innovation, too - from the compact LED headlights that sit beneath the overhang of the bonnet to the deliberately visible radar sensors integrated into the front grille.

The side profile is defined by the huge air intakes behind the front-hinged doors, but there is also a new channel above these, under buttress-style wing elements. Lines at the rear are kept clean by a deployable spoiler and the engine is visible through an aperture in the carbonfibre rear bonnet.

The interior is more spacious and much more high-tech than the Aventador’s. The Revuelto gets a reconfigurable letterbox-shaped 9.1in passenger-side display screen to supplement its digital instruments and portrait-orientated 8.4in central touchscreen.