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Lamborghini’s 800-HP Urus Tettonero Goes Bespoke

At a certain point, excess becomes the point. And at Milano Design Week 2026, Automobili Lamborghini didn’t just lean into that philosophy—it wrapped it in gloss-black paint, gave it 800 horsepower, and limited it to 630 examples. Meet the Urus SE1 “Tettonero” Capsule, a machine that treats personalization less like a feature and more like a competitive sport.

If the standard Urus already walks a fine line between supercar theater and SUV practicality, the Tettonero Capsule erases that line entirely. Its defining visual cue is right there in the name: a Nero Shiny upper body treatment that cloaks the roof, pillars, and aero details in a piano-black finish. It’s paired with six body colors—some familiar, some debuting on the Urus—like the deep, almost bruised purple of Viola Pasifae and the acidic flash of Verde Mercurius. Then Lamborghini hands you another palette of livery accents and basically says, “Go wild.” The result? More than 70 possible exterior configurations before you even start arguing about wheel sizes or brake caliper colors.

This is where Lamborghini’s Ad Personam program goes from boutique option list to full-blown identity exercise. According to the company, every Tettonero Capsule is meant to reflect its owner as much as the brand itself. That sounds like marketing copy—and it is—but it’s also hard to argue when you’re staring at a spec sheet that reads like a Pantone catalog. Even the optional “63” logo on the doors nods to the company’s founding year, because subtlety was never invited to this party.

Inside, things don’t calm down so much as they become more deliberate. Nero Ade dominates the cabin, acting as a canvas for contrast stitching and trim in colors like Viola Acutus or Verde Viper. Carbon fiber appears everywhere it reasonably—and sometimes unreasonably—can: across the dash, the center tunnel, the door panels. There’s even a commemorative plaque marking a decade of the Ad Personam Studio, because if you’re buying one of these, you probably appreciate a bit of meta storytelling with your microfibers and Dinamica leather.

Of course, the real story isn’t just the color wheel gone rogue—it’s what sits beneath it. The Tettonero Capsule rides on Lamborghini’s latest hybridized Urus platform, pairing a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with an electric motor and a 25.9-kWh battery. Total output lands at a clean, headline-friendly 800 CV and 950 Nm of torque, numbers that push this two-and-a-half-ton SUV into territory usually reserved for low-slung exotics. Zero to 100 km/h happens in 3.4 seconds, and if you keep your foot in it, you’ll see 312 km/h before physics—or common sense—intervenes.

But the hybrid system isn’t just there for bragging rights or regulatory compliance. The electric motor can drive the car on its own for over 60 kilometers, turning the Urus into a silent, all-wheel-drive cruiser when needed. More interestingly, it works in concert with a centrally mounted torque splitter and an electronically controlled rear differential to deliver something Lamborghini boldly describes as “oversteer on demand.” In other words, this SUV doesn’t just grip—it rotates, pivots, and plays along like a much smaller, much angrier machine.

All of it rides on specially developed Pirelli P Zero tires with Elect technology, designed to handle the unique demands of a hybrid performance setup. Because when you’re juggling instant electric torque and twin-turbo thrust, ordinary rubber simply won’t do.

The backdrop for all this excess? The cavernous, industrial-art setting of Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, where Lamborghini chose to photograph the Tettonero Capsule. It’s an appropriate venue—part gallery, part repurposed factory—mirroring the car itself: a fusion of artistry, engineering, and unapologetic spectacle.

The Urus SE1 “Tettonero” Capsule doesn’t try to justify its existence in rational terms. It doesn’t need to. Instead, it doubles down on what the modern super-SUV has become: a rolling contradiction that’s equal parts status symbol, performance weapon, and design statement. In typical Lamborghini fashion, it asks a simple question—how much is too much?—and answers it by adding another layer of gloss black.

Source: Lamborghini

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2026 Lamborghini Essenza SCV12 Track Tour

There are track days, there are racing schools, and then there’s whatever Lamborghini Essenza SCV12 owners get to call a weekend. For 2026, Lamborghini’s most rarefied playground returns for its sixth season, doubling down on the kind of access and excess that makes even VIP paddock passes feel pedestrian.

Dubbed the “purest track experience” by Lamborghini itself—never a company known for understatement—the Essenza SCV12 program isn’t just about seat time. It’s a traveling circus of speed and status, a four-round tour across Europe’s cathedral circuits, complete with factory backing from Lamborghini Squadra Corse and coaching from the same drivers who spend their weekends chasing tenths in anger.

The 2026 calendar reads like a greatest-hits album. It kicks off at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in May, dovetailing with the Lamborghini Arena spectacle and a round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. From there, the convoy heads to the rollercoaster that is Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in June—a track that still echoes with Lamborghini’s first 24-hour victory there. Barcelona follows in late September at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, before the grand finale at Autodromo Nazionale Monza in October, wrapped neatly into the brand’s World Finals.

But the real story isn’t where the program goes—it’s what participants get to drive. The Essenza SCV12 isn’t road legal, isn’t homologated for racing, and doesn’t care about either. Its 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 howls out 830 horsepower with zero regard for hybrid assistance or emissions theater. This is peak old-school excess, channeled through a chassis engineered to generate up to 1,200 kilograms of downforce at 250 km/h—numbers that edge into full-blown race-car territory.

The six-speed X-trac gearbox is bolted directly to the rear as a structural element, helping shave weight and sharpen response, while rear-wheel drive ensures that every ounce of that V12 fury is your problem to manage. And you will manage it, ideally, with a factory driver in your ear reminding you that, no, you are not as brave as you think you are into Eau Rouge.

Yet the Essenza SCV12 program is as much about the velvet rope as it is about apexes. Owners don’t just show up—they’re ushered into a tightly curated world of private garages, dedicated engineers, and a level of hospitality that blurs the line between motorsport and five-star retreat. It’s less “track day” and more “membership,” a rolling, high-octane club where the buy-in isn’t just financial—it’s philosophical.

Because ultimately, the Essenza SCV12 isn’t about lap times. It’s about access: to machines, to people, and to an experience that feels increasingly out of step with a world turning toward electrification and autonomy. In that sense, Lamborghini isn’t just selling speed—it’s preserving a particular kind of madness, one naturally aspirated scream at a time.

Source: Lamborghini

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Volvo’s EV Sales Rise Despite Overall Decline

If you’re looking for a clean narrative of triumph, Volvo Cars’ first quarter of 2026 isn’t it. But if you’re interested in where the industry is actually headed—messy, electrified, and geopolitically tangled—this one’s far more revealing.

Volvo moved 153,316 cars globally in Q1, an 11 percent drop compared to the same stretch last year. That headline number stings, especially for a brand that’s spent the last decade carefully rebuilding its premium credibility. But dig a layer deeper and the story shifts from decline to transition.

Electric cars are doing exactly what Volvo needs them to do. Fully electric sales rose 12 percent, now accounting for 23.7 percent of total volume. Add plug-in hybrids—nearly identical in share at 23.6 percent—and suddenly almost half of every Volvo sold plugs into something. At 47.3 percent electrified penetration, Volvo isn’t just keeping pace with legacy premium rivals; it’s quietly outpacing most of them.

That’s the paradox of 2026: growth where it matters, contraction where it used to count.

Europe remains Volvo’s anchor, with 95,335 cars delivered—down a modest 2 percent—but EV momentum is unmistakable. Fully electric models surged 21 percent, helping electrified vehicles claim 57 percent of the regional mix. In other words, more than every second Volvo sold in Europe now comes with a charging cable. That’s not a trend; that’s a pivot.

Meanwhile, the Americas are telling a very different story. Sales cratered 28 percent, dragged down by weak consumer sentiment and the cold reality of disappearing EV incentives. Electrified models took an even bigger hit, down 30 percent, suggesting that policy shifts can still make or break adoption curves overnight. It’s a reminder that even the most carefully planned electrification strategy is only as stable as the regulatory ground beneath it.

China, as ever, plays by its own rules. Overall sales dropped 17 percent, but electrified models skyrocketed 116 percent—driven almost entirely by plug-in hybrids, which jumped a staggering 146 percent. Fully electric cars, interestingly, went the other direction, down 26 percent. It’s a nuanced shift that hints at a market not yet ready to go all-in on EVs, despite its reputation as the global epicenter of electrification.

Volvo’s product cadence may soon help rebalance that equation. The upcoming Volvo EX60—still waiting in the wings—has already generated strong customer interest, and its arrival could plug a crucial gap in the lineup. Until then, models like the long-range Volvo XC70 are carrying the load in key markets like China, where flexibility still trumps purity.

Erik Severinson, Volvo’s Chief Commercial Officer, framed it as a moment of resilience rather than retreat, pointing to six consecutive months of growth in fully electric deliveries heading into March. He’s not wrong. The trajectory is there, even if the quarterly snapshot looks uneven.

Still, the broader industry context looms large. Pricing pressure, tariffs, and geopolitical uncertainty aren’t abstract threats—they’re showing up directly on balance sheets. Volvo’s 17 percent drop in mild hybrid and internal-combustion sales underscores a reality many automakers would rather avoid: the old profit engines are fading faster than the new ones can fully replace them.

So no, this wasn’t a blockbuster quarter. But it may be a more honest one.

Because right now, success in the auto industry doesn’t look like steady growth—it looks like controlled disruption. And by that measure, Volvo might be doing exactly what it needs to do.

Source: Volvo

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