Lamborghini’s flagship Revuelto levels up with SV trim

SV stands for Supervolce, or ‘super fast.’ And that’s an apt description for this heat-seeking missile of a sports car.

SV stands for Supervolce, or ‘super fast.’ And that’s an apt description for this heat-seeking missile of a sports car.

A lot of automakers talk about wanting to minimize or eliminate driver distractions so as to make the experience of driving more rewarding and safer overall. Lamborghini has a different strategy; it wants the driver to become one with their vehicle. This helps explain the storied super car maker’s tagline for the new Revuelto SV: the quantum of driving.

“For us, quantum of driving is the moment when you get into the car, you start driving the car, and the car and you become one piece,” said Alessandro Farmeschi, product line director for the Revuelto, the Italian brand’s top V12 powered model. “And you start just thinking about your drive, feeling the adrenaline of the acceleration, braking, the G-forces, you know. You feel everything and you basically forget about the rest because you are so concentrated and you enjoy so much this experience.”

Be the car! What better way to be less bothered by all of modern life’s distraction? I can’t speak from experience, having not driven the Revuelto yet, but standing next to the sharklike SV version, you can certainly begin to understand where Farmeschi and his colleagues are coming from. Be the car? Sure, I’ll be this car. And I’ll eat all others on the road for breakfast.

SV stands for Superveloce or “superfast,” which dates back to the iconic 1971 Miura SV . Lamborghini has also used the designation on higher-performance versions of the Diablo, Murciélago, and Aventador — and now the Revuelto, it’s flagship V12 supercar .

It’s a high-performance evolution of an already very fast, very high performing vehicle, which begs the question: How much is too much? The Revuelto SV’s hybrid-electric powertrain still features a 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 and three electric motors, which can put out 1,065cv (around 1,050 hp), or around a 50 hp boost over the standard Revuelto. The additional capability is supported by a revised battery package that retains the same basic shape and geometry but increases energy capacity by 7.3kWh and provides higher power output.

The battery improvements are intended not simply to produce a higher peak figure but to make the car’s performance more consistent during hard driving. Lamborghini wanted the SV to deliver a flatter and more consistent level of performance throughout a lap rather than experiencing larger variations in output, Farmeschi explained.

The transmission shifting time has also been reduced by 30 percent for a more responsive and effective acceleration. Carbon fiber is used extensively throughout the vehicle to shave crucial kilograms. The front bumper is completely new, while the rear wing, door panels, and new racing seats also use carbon fiber as part of the effort to slim down and improve performance. The result? The Revuelto SV posts a power-to-weight ratio of 1.66 kg/CV, as compared to 1.75kg/CV for the standard Revuelto.