Say Hello To The Lamborghini LP580-2, The Rear-Wheel Drive Huracan We've Been Waiting For

With the Gallardo, Lamborghini introduced us to an all-wheel drive baby supercar with the security of all-wheel drive to tame its lunacy, before ripping out what made it almost manageable and chucking bucketloads of power at the two tortured rear wheels. That’s exactly what it’s now done with the new Huracan LP580-2, which has been revealed ahead of the Los Angeles motor show.

As you might have spotted from the name, instead of routing the all-wheel drive car’s full 602bhp through the rear wheels and hoping that the driver and electronic assists could combine to convert that into forward momentum rather than choking tyre smoke, this car actually gets a detuned version of that glorious V10.

The 5.2-litre engine now makes 571bhp and 384lb ft of torque (which is, again, less than the all-wheel drive version musters up), and is 33kg lighter at 1389kg thanks to chucking out the hefty all-wheel drive system. The rear-wheel drive car is just 0.2sec slower to 62mph, taking 3.4sec, and has a top speed of 199mph.

There are a few subtle visual clues that give away this car’s penchant for wrecking its rears in the form of redesigned air intakes that increase downforce on the front axle, as well as new 19- and 20-inch ‘Kari’ wheels. Pirelli has even made bespoke P Zero tyres to try to contain the animal inside.

And since we care about the polar bears here at CT, you’ll be delighted to know that this car is the cleanest and most economical car in Lamborghini’s lineup, achieving 23.7mpg and CO2 emissions of 278g/km - don’t reach for that Prius just yet! It’ll set you back €150,000 plus taxes, making it more affordable than a Ferrari 488 GTB. Bargain, then…