This Is It: The 10,000rpm, 907bhp Lamborghini Temerario

Talk about tough acts to follow. When your job is replacing the car powered by the only road-going V10 engine in production, you have to be something pretty special. Say hello, then, to the car tasked with doing just that: the Lamborghini Temerario.

As we’ve known for a while, the Temerario packs a brand new, 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8, which is capable of revving to an astounding 10,000rpm. Totally unrelated to the V8 used by the wider VW Group, it’s a flat-plane crank unit which by itself sends 789bhp and 538lb ft of torque to the rear axle.

Of course, it’s also no secret that the Temerario is a plug-in hybrid. Three electric motors – two driving the front axle, and one supplementing the engine at the rear – deliver a peak of 295bhp by themselves. The peak output of the whole system is 907bhp. And this is Lambo’s entry-level supercar.

Driving the wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, this setup unsurprisingly makes for some pretty startling stats: 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds, and a top speed of over 210mph. Entry-level supercar, remember.

Naturally, we’re promised it’ll also make quite the noise, especially when it’s going full chat in Sport or Corsa modes.

The electric front axle also allows for torque vectoring, meaning it can instantaneously juggle torque between the two front wheels, something we’re promised will have benefits for both high-speed stability and low-speed manoeuvring.

That last part is important, because despite those frankly brutal performance numbers, Lambo is keen for the Temerario to be a usable car. The interior is a symphony of leather, with standard electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated sports seats (although obviously, you can swap this out for lots of carbon fibre and choose some hardcore bucket seats if you’re the kind of person that wears Sparco racing boots to Tesco).

The new aluminium spaceframe chassis incorporates a 34mm gain in headroom and 46mm improvement in legroom over the Huracan, too. Of course, because it’s a PHEV, you can also cruise about silently around town if you have enough charge. We’re not sure how many people will do this.

Despite this practicality, Lambo’s entirely embracing the childlike glee its cars inspire, by saying that driving the Temerario makes you ‘feel like a pilot’. Anyone else got a sudden craving for a pair of aviator shades?

Rear downforce is improved by 103 per cent over the Huracan, increasing to 158 per cent if you spec the Alleggerita Pack, which also throws a load more carbon at the car – including for the wheels – for a 12.65kg weight reduction. The overall dry weight, by the way, is quoted at 1690kg.

Oh, and that name? It’s a Spanish fighting bull, of course, but it’s also the Spanish word for ‘unruly’. Sounds pretty apt, considering some of the numbers at play here.

With deliveries of the Temerario set for the second half of next year, Lambo’s lineup will go entirely plug-in hybrid, and the V10 will disappear from new cars once the Huracan sails into the sunset this December. Reckon this softens that blow?