Lamborghini Sián Roadster: Sold Out Before It Was Revealed

Nineteen open-top V12 hybrids, every one claimed before the public debut.

Every one of the 19 Lamborghini Sián Roadsters found a buyer before the car officially existed in public, making it simultaneously a collector's trophy, a technology demonstrator, and a statement about how Lamborghini intended to electrify its most sacred engine.

Lamborghini's deliberate detour from lithium-ion

Lamborghini chose a supercapacitor instead of a lithium-ion battery, storing ten times the power of an equivalent-size battery and yielding an electric system that weighs just 34 kg, which the company says makes the Sián more than 10% faster in elasticity maneuvers than an equivalent car without the system.

The open-top V12 experience, amplified

The hybrid system exists to enhance the V12's delivery rather than overlay it with a competing soundtrack, and stripping the roof lets the 6.5-liter engine breathe directly into the cabin with nothing between the driver and the intake trumpets but open sky.

Countach echoes and smart-material cooling

Six hexagonal taillights reference the Countach, and the surrounding active cooling vanes use a patented smart-material technology that reacts to exhaust temperature, with shape-memory elements rotating the vanes open without electric actuators, wiring, or added weight.

The blueprint that scaled to the Revuelto

The Revuelto, Lamborghini's first series-production V12 hybrid, took a markedly different path with three electric motors, a lithium-ion battery, and a dual-clutch gearbox, but the philosophical seed of using electrification to sharpen the V12 rather than apologize for it was planted in the Sián.

Electric torque where it matters most

The Sián's 48-volt e-motor operates up to 130 km/h before automatically disconnecting, and its primary role is filling the torque gap during upshifts and boosting traction force by up to 10% in third gear.

819 hp combined, under 2.9 seconds to 100 km/h

The Sián Roadster's 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12, uprated to 785 hp at 8,500 rpm with titanium intake valves, combines with the 34 hp e-motor for a total of 819 hp and a weight-to-power ratio of just 2.0 kg/hp.

A technological dead end and a foundational moment

The supercapacitor's strengths — instant power delivery, negligible weight, and infinite charge cycles without degradation — align well with performance applications where range is irrelevant, and the Sián Roadster stands as proof that Lamborghini's first instinct when confronting electrification was to protect the V12's soul.