Sensational Lamborghini Fenomeno: the brand’s most powerful supercar ever in detail
The limited-run Lamborghini Fenomeno packs an incredible 1,064bhp from its hybrid-assisted V12 engine
Lamborghini has an expensive treat lined up for its favourite customers: a new, limited edition special, the Fenomeno.
For €3-million before taxes (£2.61m), 29 privileged fans can order this “powerful but elegant” remix of the Revuelto hypercar. They’ll get the punchiest Lamborghini in history, wrapped in a sophisticated design that optimises aerodynamic and cooling performance.
Unveiled at Monterey car week, the Fenomeno is the tenth ultra-limited Lambo (excluding roadster spin-offs), an experiment that began with the Reventon – a pumped up Murcielago – in 2007. Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann kicked off that project, and after a five-year hiatus in exclusive Lambos, he’s releasing a new bull.
“It puts together all the expertise of Lamborghini,” explains the boss. “Expertise in design, aerodynamics, lightweight material for both the monocoque and the skin, and then, for sure, expertise in the internal combustion engine blended with battery [power].”
While you'll be lucky to get your hands on the limited Fenomeno, our Buy a Car service has plenty of used Lamborghinis for sale. You can own a used Lamborghini Urus for around £140,000 or used Lamborghini Huracan Spyder for around £190,000.
How powerful is the new Lamborghini Fenomeno?
Total system power is a Lamborghini-record-breaking 1080 horsepower (1065bhp). The engineers have revised the naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 to deliver around 10bhp more, with the rear electric motor feeding another 55bhp into the driveline. Two axial flux motors, made by British engineering company Yasa, can each spin a front wheel to nip the nose into corners.
“There are cars with just one motor in the front, but if you want to exploit the maximum potential of electric torque vectoring, you need two motors,” says Matteo Ortenzi, Lamborghini’s head of V12 production. “It’s a compromise in terms of weight but we believe it’s the best possible choice for driving dynamics.”
A big development is that Lamborghini has almost doubled the Revuelto battery’s capacity to 7kWh, by switching from pouch cells to cylindrical ones. Their shape works better with the liquid cooling system, which all fits in exactly the same space as in the Revuelto. The battery is heavier but weight savings elsewhere compensate.
The feistier drivetrain demands 20 per cent more cooling, courtesy of those big side apertures. The carbon ceramic discs, honed by Brembo’s experience in Formula 1, have a floating design to manage heat. They peep out from behind monoblock rims with a turbine design, clad in bespoke rubber.
But the biggest story is how Mitja Borkert’s new design manages airflow. Big scoops in the nose channel air over the windscreen and roof, cascading onto a subtle active rear spoiler: there’s no exaggerated rear wing to make the Squadra Corse race team envious. Ortenzi says the Fenomeno delivers a 30 per cent aerodynamic improvement over the Revuelto. “We wanted a car that shows its power, but in an elegant way.”
Top speed is set to marginally eclipse the Revuelto’s 217mph, and the extra power trims a tenth off its zero to 62mph blast, shaving it to 2.4-seconds. Standstill to 200kph (124mph) takes a fleeting 6.7-seconds.
Advanced technology features
Lamborghini has upgraded the electronic architecture so the computer brain can respond more rapidly to sensor information: Ortenzi calls it a six-dimensional sensing system. “We are measuring longitudinal, lateral and vertical acceleration with this new generation of sensor so much quicker than before.”
The electrohydraulic brakes and stability control systems should also react instantaneously. “It seems that the car is reading you what you want to do next, because when you're going out of the corner and pushing the throttle, when you're braking, the car is already setting all the controls in order to be ready. It reacts faster and feels lighter,” says the head of V12 production.
In contrast, the passive suspension is devoid of electronic trickery, though it can be manually adjusted. That was a deliberate choice, says Ortenzi, to get a setting that best balances on-road comfort with dynamic handling.
Bold design and customisation
The revised, wedgy bodywork is clearly split into upper and lower sections, which can be painted in contrasting bright colours, or left bare to expose the carbonfibre: given customer personalisation, no two Fenomenon (or should that be Fenomena?) will be the same.
Like many of Lamborghini’s few-of models, the Fenomeno is also an opportunity for the company’s designers to push Lamborghini’s design language to the limit. Unlike the low-volume Countach model from 2021, this isn’t a retro-rehash but an exploration of new design elements.
The biggest change over the Revuelto it’s based on is the silhouette, which features a 67mm-longer tail and an integrated duck-tail spoiler. The flying buttress-style rear haunches on the Revuelto are gone, and instead the Fenomeno has a smoother rear end punctured by air intakes. Towards its nose and along the side, Lamborghini’s designers have created a two-layer look, with the lower elements in exposed carbon fibre.
There are some nods to previous Lamborghini models, such as the wheelarch extensions, which mimic the shape of those on the Countach Quattrovalvole from the eighties. As well as this new bodywork, the Italian brand has also fitted unique daytime running lights and rear lights that feature a vertical lighting pattern in contrast to the usual horizontal one.
Like all Lamborghinis, though, the Fenomeno will be very customisable, meaning that many of the design elements seen on the show car can be emphasised or hidden away depending on their colour and material. Customers can have the exposed carbon-fibre elements finished in a body colour, for example, or the wheels painted to show off the spokes, rather than the turbines at the wheels’ edge as on the show car.
The Fenomeno’s cabin is heavily derived from the Reveulto’s, with a similar dash layout and digital interfaces. But there are a few unique touches, such as the carbon fibre-backed bucket seats and carbon-fibre door cards – all of which can be specified exactly to the customer’s taste, whether that be luxurious, retro or motorsport-inspired.
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