Over the past few years, car manufacturers have been clamouring to lower CO2 emissions, improve fuel economy and generally mitigate the internal combustion engine's impact on the environment.
Worthy stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.
However, the downside of all this eco-worthiness is that it makes for extremely boring cars. Sure, the Fiat 500 TwinAir is a hoot and the new Focus EcoBoost is eerily competent; however, there isn't an eco-car on the market which couldn't be improved by the fitment of a whacking great, planet-killing V8.
Even the big names in the world of performance cars are downsizing their engines in the pursuit of a greener planet -- the new BMW M5 has a V8, not a V10, for example.
However, Lamborghini seemed to be sticking to its guns when it launched the new Aventador, waving a two-fingered salute to the sandal brigade as it wedged a monstrous 6.5-litre V12 into the back of its achingly-beautiful Aventador.
Now though, it seems that Lambo has been exposed to the green bug, as the new Aventador claims not to be faster or more powerful than the current model, but more 'fuel efficient'.
We didn't even know Lambo's engineers knew what these words meant.
The fuel-saving technology in Lambo's new flagship comprises of a stop-start system which Lamborghini claims can restart the car's engine in 180 milliseconds, and which uses special capacitors to ensure that maximum power can be achieved immediately upon restart.
In addition to this, a new cylinder deactivation system means that when travelling under 84mph at low throttle, six of the V12's cylinders are turned off, turning the Aventador into a straight-six.
The result of these improvements is a reduction in CO2 emissions from 398g/km to 370g/km and an increase in fuel economy from 16.4mpg to 18mpg. So, it's hardly a Toyota Prius then.
To be honest, it's hard to see why Lamborghini has bothered with these eco-improvements at all, especially considering the meagre improvements in emissions and fuel consumption. And when you consider the low number of Aventadors on the road, it's hard to imagine that these improvements will make much of an environmental impact at all.
So, is company's new-found 'Bill Oddie-ishness' a good thing, or should Lamborghini's V12 supercar stick to what it's best at (namely, burning the planet's resources and scaring old women on the pavement with a chirp of full throttle).
Leave your comments below.
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