2019 Lamborghini Huracan Evo: price, features and Performante-challenging performance confirmed

Lamborghini’s Huracan Evo will touch down in Australia in the third quarter of this year, wearing a starting price of $459,441 and bringing performance potential that puts the current high-achieving hero Performante on notice.

The Evo slots into the middle of the current Huracan range, above the entry $378,900 LP 580-2 Coupe and under the Performante Spyder which costs $532,635. The Performante Coupe version costs $483,866 and Lamborghini has not yet confirmed an Evo Spyder.

Headlining a long list of technical enhancements are a number of features lifted from the Performante. Donated kit includes its 470kW 5.2-litre V10 engine coupled to all-wheel drive, enabling the Evo to match the Performante’s zero to 100km/h dash of 2.9 seconds.

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It also gains rear wheel steering, borrowed from the Aventador SVJ, to boost high-speed stability and agility at lower speeds. But while the Performante wears ostentatious forged carbonfibre aero parts for maximum grip at speed, the Evo has redesigned bodywork that does away with big spoilers in favour of more subtle, streamlined looks.

It can’t quite counter the big downforce figures of the Performante as a result, but the Evo’s relatively understated aesthetic is far more efficient with significantly less drag than its headline-stealing sibling.

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And compared with the hyperbolic Performante, the Huracan Evo has six times better aerodynamic efficiency and seven times more downforce efficiency – the ratio of drag relative to downforce. There’s also a 16 percent improvement to cooling air flow.

As you might expect, the Evo knocks the rear-drive LP 580-2 and LP 610-4 into a cocked hat when it comes to lap times but, speaking at the global launch of the Evo, Chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani let slip that, at certain circuits (including Lamborghini’s own test track), the Evo is fastest.

“My colleagues in chassis don’t want me to mention the Huracan Evo, in the Nardo track, is also faster than Performante,” he said.

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While the big wing allows the Performante maximum potency at fast circuits such as the Nurburgring, where it once held the production car lap record, on tracks with tighter turns and lower average speeds, the rear-wheel steering system is a greater advantage.

It’s unlikely the Evo will be bettering the final lap time of its big-winged sibling at the Green Hell, but it's certainly something Huracan fans should consider when weighing up the range – especially if they don’t intend to spend a lot of time on high-speed circuits.

Indeed, the Italian manufacturer says the Evo is the true all-rounder of the range and a pleasure to live with day-to-day.

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In addition to the major oily bits, the Evo introduces a new electronic management system entitled Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata or LDVI, which uses a single central processor to rule over the various dynamic systems including the steering, power transmission and new torque vectoring.

According to Lamborghini, the system is predictive and can anticipate the driver’s actions, allowing a greater level of car control yet providing seamless intervention. From the driver's seat, the car's handling should feel natural rather than synthetic.

“With this you can really try to see what is the limit of the driver because normally, the limits of the driver will arrive before the limits of the car,” said Reggiani.

Visual exterior changes are extensive and include a more aggressive front air dam with trademark epsilon vents, at the back end, a subtle spoiler incorporates a slot that draws air, venturi style, from the rear window to improve downforce while also removing heat from the enginebay.

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A massive rear diffuser compliments underbody deflectors and side air curtains for yet more aerodynamic benefit, while a new high-exit twin exhaust is another Performante trait - and one that turns up the volume on that raucous V10.

Inside, a portrait-oriented central screen measures 8.4-inches across and boasts smartphone-esque swipe and pinch controls. Spend a little more and you can have on-board telemetry, which includes a pair of integrated cameras to monitor both the way ahead and the cabin when recording hard laps.

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With the introduction of the new model, a special Arancio Xanto four-layer orange paint is on offer to complement the new-look 20-inch wheels. The standard Pirelli P Zero tyres that they wear can be also be optionally upgraded to strictly-dry-weather-only P Zero Corsa rubber for those seeking a little more track-day grip.

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