It'd be easy to pigeonhole the Lamborghini Fenomeno into the same opening as the brand's previous limited-run exotica that Sant'Agata Bolognese dubs its "Few-Offs." These cars—the Reventon, the Sesto Elemento, the Centenario, et cetera—have been built from the bones of the automaker's series production vehicles, such as the Murcielago, Gallardo and Aventador. But while the Fenomeno may share much of its structure with the remarkable Revuelto, there's more to separate it from its PCOTY-winning sibling than was the case with its predecessors.
"It is a continuation of the Few-Off program, but not only," says Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr during an interview at the automotive spectacle of decadence known as The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. "We have also incorporated the performance side."
"This is the first time, from my point of view, [a Few-Off has been] a holistic brand statement of performance and design."
"The brand Lambo is always about the design and the performance, and in the past, the main focus of the Few-Offs was the design," he says. With the Fenomeno, thought, the company also boosted the car's performance versus its foundational vehicle—in a way that Mohr compared to going from the regular Aventador to the Aventador SVJ.
"We have a new battery. We have a new braking system. We have new dampers. A lot of new things, to increase the performance," Mohr says. "This time, for the first time, if you buy a Few-Off, you buy... the pinnacle of the brand Lamborghini."
The numbers prove his point: thanks to a combined output of 1063 horsepower made from its combination of a naturally-aspirated V-12 making 823 hp—thus making it the most powerful 12-pot in company history—and a trio of electric motors joining forces to whir up 242 hp of their own, the Fenomeno has the best power-to-weight ratio of any car Lamborghini has built. The brand also says it's the quickest Lambo yet, beating even the Revuelto that we saw blitz from 0-60 mph in 2.2 seconds and knock out the quarter-mile in 9.7 at 148 mph.
But as Mohr makes clear, even at these levels of performance, the Fenomeno isn't a track car—and it's not meant to look like one, even if he suspects customers might prefer a more bewinged approach like the company did with the Veneno, for example. "We did a very sleek, very clean body—the basic proportion is quite clean," he says. "If you look at the side, it's very elegant; it's a little bit long tail-stylish. And on the other hand, you have the super-iconic elements."
"The exhaust tailpipe, it's really a statement, you know?" he says with a chuckle.
The Fenomeno's exotic appearance—and having seen it at Monterey Car Week, believe me, it looks exotic in the best way in person, complex without being overly busy—is tied somewhat to its limited production numbers. The lower the number being built, Mohr says, the more freedom the brand has with the tooling for the carbon-fiber pieces that make up so much of the car, and the more time the company can take with assembly.
Of course, if people react well, Lamborghini might need to find a way to translate some of the car's style to a broader audience. "The Few-Off is always a little bit of a laboratory to get the feedback, you know? It's kind of a laboratory of taste and so on," he says. "If we see something is very appreciated, then for sure it can influence the next generation [of series production cars]."
And I suspect if Mohr has any say in the matter, it's the rear of the Fenomeno that might inspire the next generation of mainstream Lambos. When I ask him for his favorite feature, he smiles wide, walks me around to the stern of the car, and points to the taillights and rear fascia. He directs me towards the way the steamroller width of a rear tire is largely visible thanks to the way the bodywork cuts in at the corner: "It's one of the coolest backs, from my point of view, of the automotive [world.]"
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