The CEO of luxury automotive OEM Lamborghini Stephan Winkelmann has said that part of failure of its all-electric model was a widespread lack of adequate EV charging infrastructure.
Winkelmann made the claim in a recent interview with Fortune, ahead of the full-year earnings release for its parent company Volkswagen, last week. Lamborghini shelved its plan for the Lanzador all-electric EV model in February, which was originally planned for a 2029 release. The firm will instead develop a plug-in hybrid model.
“We have a lot of customers [who] bought electric cars, and they told us—I spoke to a lot around the globe—that in terms of infrastructure, in terms of charging time, in terms of range … it is very disappointing,” Winkelmann said in the interview.
However, he also conceded that sports car customers want the noise and vibrations of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, which an EV lacks.
Lamborghini saw €3.2 billion (US$3.7 billion) in revenue in 2025, up 3.3%, though operating income fell around 9% to €768 million.
The fall in profits was mainly due to negative exchange rate fluctuations and the introduction of US tariffs, according to Lamborghini’s announcement last week, while Fortune’s write-up said the pivot away from the EV model also had an impact.
The automotive industry as a whole has been recalibrating its approach to EVs in the past year after falling profits and a softening of EV demand. A big part of that is down to the Trump administration removing EV consumer tax credits in the US.
General Motors, Ford and Stellantis all recently revealed multi-billion-dollar write-downs related to their broad EV activities, while Renault and Porsche have specifically revealed plans to scale back EV charging.
