Hybrids preferred choice, offer best of both worlds: Lamborghini executive

The divide within the auto industry recently came to the fore after a July 5 order by the Uttar Pradesh government to waive a registration tax of 8-10 per cent for strong hybrid vehicles

Customers are now preferring hybrid cars over electric cars, believing their performance won’t drop, a senior executive of Italian super luxury carmaker Lamborghini said on Friday.

Hybrid cars also offer “the best of both worlds”, pairing an internal combustion engine (ICE) with an electric powertrain, Francesco Scardaoni, region director for Asia Pacific at Automobili Lamborghini, said. Scardaoni said any reduction in registration taxes or goods and services tax (GST) would benefit the category.

The Italian carmaker, which had rolled out its first plug-in hybrid supercar, the Revuelto, in India in December last year, launched the Urus SE, an SUV that also runs on a plug-in hybrid powertrain, on Friday. 

The company will launch next week the successor to the Huracan, which will also feature a hybrid powertrain.

In an interview to Business Standard on the sidelines of the Urus SE launch, Scardaoni said, “There are some states that are talking about lowering registration taxes on hybrid cars. This would be a great advantage if it is applied to Lamborghini’s hybrid cars too.”

Asked if the government should reduce the GST rate on hybrid cars, which currently stands at 28 per cent, he said, “Of course. If it happens, it would be even better for our customers. Taxes in India are not the lowest one.”

He, however, added that while taxation does create a barrier, the government’s focus on creating more road infrastructure will help the super sports car segment.

As India aims to be carbon-neutral by 2070, automakers are divided over the best path ahead. Big players like Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are pushing for tax cuts on hybrids, arguing EVs alone can’t carry the emission reduction load. However, homegrown players like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have opposed such tax cuts, insisting that only a full-throttle EV push can truly decarbonise India’s roads.

The divide within the auto industry came to the fore after a July 5 order of the Uttar Pradesh government that waived the registration tax of 8-10 per cent for hybrid vehicles.

Over the past few quarters, strong hybrid cars have been seeing better growth in sales compared to electric cars globally, including in India.

“There was a boom in terms of electric car sales. But now, it has calmed down. When it comes to super sports cars, we believe, and this is what we see, that our customers prefer hybrid cars over electric cars because this technology allows them to have an ICE paired with an electric power unit, combining the best of the two worlds,” Scardaoni said.

The electric power unit in a hybrid car adds to the pleasure, usability and sustainability, he noted. “Urus SE’s emissions have reduced by 80 per cent compared to the previous Urus,” he explained.

“Hybrid is what customers believe is the best powertrain to be used on a super sports car or on a super SUV right now. Customers have experienced the Revuelto and they know that hybrid does not mean downsizing,” he added.

He admitted that Lamborghini has a difficult challenge on its hands when it comes to developing pure electric cars because it is important to ensure that they are consistent with the company’s DNA. “Our DNA is based not just on pure performance but also on ‘driving emotion’. Replicating ‘driving emotion’ on a pure electric car is not easy. That is why we have said that we don’t want to be the first ones to get into electric cars as we want to be the best one,” he said.

“If I blindfold you and make you sit in our electric car, you must feel that you are driving a Lamborghini, in terms of handling and performance. Right now, electric cars are very good at longitudinal acceleration. When it comes to lateral acceleration, it is a different story. Both types of accelerations are equally important to us to generate that ‘driving emotion’,” he said.

Lamborghini has pushed the introduction of its first pure electric car to the second half of the decade as it first wants to better understand the customer’s requirements.

In India, Lamborghini sold 103 units in 2023, recording 12 per cent growth year-on-year. Scardaoni expressed satisfaction with the company's performance in India. “It may not look big in terms of numbers but it is quite big in terms of percentage increase,” he said.

He said India and China are two countries that have the youngest customer base for Lamborghini. The average customer age in India is below 40, while it is close to 50 globally. He pointed out that a new generation of rich persons -- especially because of the startup boom -- is rising in India amid a growing economy.