The wait for Lamborghini’s first hybrid supercar will come to an end at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. The yet-to-be-named hybrid monster is a touchpoint for the Italian automaker as it lays the foundation for its own hybrid plans for the future. For now, the hybrid supercar goes by the name “LB48H.” Details are still scarce at this point, but Lamborghini is expected to take styling cues from the Terzo Millenio EV Concept it unveiled last year and graft them onto the hybrid supercar. This model also holds the distinction for being the rarest among all hybrid exotics that have been released in recent years. Lamborghini's building only 63 units — the 63-car volume is a nod to 1963, the year Lamborghini was born — and, unfortunately for all of us, all 63 units are already accounted for.

Lamborghini's First Hybrid Supercar

Lamborghini is a little late to the hybrid supercar party, but who cares if it is. The important thing is that it’s arriving with a machine that could turn the entire segment upside its head. That’s a bold claim, especially with models like the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari, and McLaren P1 already setting the bar high for newcomers like the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG ONE. But come September, the segment welcomes its newest member to the fold. I don’t like to be the one who needlessly hypes up an upcoming exotic, but a hype man is the last thing Lamborghini’s hybrid hypercar needs. The mere mention of its internal name, “LB48H,” is enough to get people, myself included, excited about what Lambo has in store for all of us.

Unfortunately, that is exactly where we are at the moment. We don’t know what Lamborghini’s cooking over there at Sant’Agata, Italy. We know that Lamborghini’s using its mid-mounted 6.5-liter V-12 engine on the car to go with an electric motor that will drive the front wheels. We don’t know how much power the powertrain will carry, but at this point, we don’t mind waiting for the juicy details to arrive as we approach the Frankfurt Motor Show.

While that would make it the most powerful production Lamborghini in history, the output is lacking, at least relative to what other automakers were able to offer with their own hybrid hypercars. It wouldn’t even be the most powerful hybrid Lamborghini has ever built. Ok, so the Asterion Concept that was presented at the 2014 Paris Motor Show doesn’t count, but it still featured a potent powertrain setup that included a V-10 engine and three electric motors, producing a total of 900 horsepower.

I’m not going to put too much weight on the rumored output of the production hybrid. I don’t think Lamborghini’s going to set this model up for disappointment. It’s too important for the company’s identity and it’s future to mess this up, especially since the LB48H’s hybrid powertrain could serve as a taste of what’s to come as Lamborghini begins preparing for the replacement of the mighty Aventador. That model isn’t expected to arrive past 2020 so that should give the LB48H enough space to stand as the crown jewel of Lamborghini’s lineup, even if it is just limited to 63 units.

Both hypercars are equipped with powertrains that produce in excess of 1,000 horsepower so Lamborghini will have its work cut out if it wants to approach those output figures for the LB48H. Lamborghini's Chief Commercial Officer, Federico Foschini, didn’t explicitly say that’s the case, but he didn’t close the door on the possibility, either. In his conversation with Motoring Australia, Foschini indicated that even though the company is using an electric motor to add on to its V-12 engine, the use of the latter will be nominal. “We know that the electrification trend is coming,” he said. So the idea is that we combine the V12 with a hybrid. Hybridization will be tuned for performance, not merely for range. It is not a car that will run for 70 or 100 km full electric.”

That said, Foschini added that the company’s goal to extract more power and performance out of hybridization remains. It could tune that 6.5-liter V-12 to produce more power in order to get output levels approaching 1,000 horsepower with the help of an electric motor. The automaker could also throw in an extra motor in the front, one for each wheel, as opposed to the one-motor setup inside the Terzio Millenio EV Concept. Lamborghini can play around with all these combinations to figure out which setup will suit the LB48H the best.

It still has time to do it since the Frankfurt Motor Show isn’t for another seven months.It’s a huge product for the company, not just by itself, but for Lambo’s future in the hybrid segment of the business. Who knows, it might not be the only hybrid model that Lamborghini unveils in Frankfurt. Foschini hinted at a surprise unveiling alongside the LB48H, and, at the moment, don’t be surprised if we end seeing the MY2020 Lamborghini Urus Plug-In Hybrid as well.

Lamborghini’s future will take shape then. For now, all we can do is sit back, relax, and let the automaker do its job. With this much time until Frankfurt, we’re expecting nothing less than to get blown away with the LB48H.

Further reading

Read our full speculative review on the 2019 Lamborghini LB48H Hybrid Supercar.

Read our full review on the 2017 Lamborghini Terzo Millennio Concept.