Not your average hybrid The 2021 Lamborghini Sin will catapult to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and hit 220 mph, leaving in its wake a shock-and-awe wall of sound from its mighty 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12. The Sin is long and low and extreme, with a menacing, almost alien road presence that signals its status as a tarmac predator ready to pounce and devour random Ferraris. The Sin packs an 807-hp punch, making it the most powerful Lamborghini road car ever built. Its also Lamborghinis first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid . But were a long, long way from Toyota Prius territory here. The limited-edition Sin is fundamentally an A ventador SVJ with more radical exterior styling and a redesigned interior that features a new center console with fewer switches and a portrait-oriented touchscreen. Just 19 roadsters and 63 coupes will be built, all constructed to celebrate the founding of Automobili Lamborghini in 1963. The coupe costs $2.64 million, and 15 of them are coming to the U.S. No word on price yet for the roadster, U.S. versions of which will arrive between May and December, but its safe to say that if you need to know, you cant afford it. Finally, its name was amended after its debut to include FKP 37 to honor late Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Pich , who was born in 1937. Lambos Hybrid Differs From Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren Hybrid hypercars are nothing new. We tested Porsches 918, McLarens P1 , and Ferraris LaFerrari 200-plus-mph hybrid-powered rockets allway back in 2015. Lamborghinis Sin is a little late to the party, but it unveils a technology claimed to be the next big thing for high-performance hybrids: the supercapacitor . A supercapacitor stores electrical energy, but unlike a battery, it doesnt bind that energy in a chemical reaction. Instead, the supercapacitor stores electricity in a static state. That means it can be recharged almost instantly and can hold more power than a typical lithium-ion battery of the same size. Supercapacitors also have a longer working life than regular batteries and function at temperature extremes that flummox most battery chemistries. There are downsides, however. Supercapacitors self-discharge more rapidly than lithium-ion batteries, losing 10 times more energy over a 30- to 40-day period. Supercapacitors are also much more expensive than batteries, and their cells have a lower voltage. But automakers around the world are pursuing the technology, and the global automotive supercapacitor market is reckoned by some analysts to be worth $7 billion by 2028. Three times more powerful than a battery of the same weight and three times lighter than a battery producing the same power, the supercapacitor in the Sin snuggles in the bulkhead between the cabin and the engine compartment and powers a 34-hp electric motor mounted to the side of the Sins automated manual transmission. Thats not mucheven a Prius Prime packs 95 horses of pure electric powerbut the Sins hybrid setup has not been designed to allow this Lamborghini to glide with its internal combustion engine shut down. Indeed, there is no pure EV mode. Instead, the e-motor is there to provide quick-fire torque fill at speeds of up to 80 mph. Driving Impressions Make a Big Impression The Sin shares much of the Aventadors mechanical hardware, including its seven-speed single-clutch transmission. The single-clutch design demands a rapid cutting of ignition during gearshifts to reduce the torque loads in the transmission. During normal driving in the Aventadors most amenable drive mode, Strada, that sometimes results in herky-jerky progress; in max-attack Corsa mode, it means thumping shift shock that feels like youve been hit in the back of your head with a shovel. But not in the Sin. Even in Corsa, with the transmission in its manual mode, your right foot buried, and that big V-12 bellowing, the Sin slips crisply from gear to gear, the little electric motor stepping in to smooth the interruptions to the torque flow. In Strada, with the transmission set to automatic, the big Sin will mooch along much more calmly and contentedly than the Aventador. You can watch the boost and recharge displays dancing up and down on the touchscreen display as the supercapacitor first discharges to feed the e-motor, then instantly rechargesready for more. Lamborghini claims the hybrid system makes the Sin more than 10 percent quicker in its lower gears than an Aventador SVJ, increasing traction force by 10 percent in third gear and shaving 0.2 second from the 30-to-60-kph (19-to-37-mph) acceleration time. In higher gears, the electric motor increases traction force by more than 20 percent, clipping 1.2 seconds from the 70-to-120-kph (44-to-75-mph) time. For now, well take Lambos word for it. Lets just say the Sin feels brutally, epically fast. Under all the sound and fury is a chassis that, dare we say, feels grown up. Early Aventadors oozed menace, with a wayward demeanor that demanded your total attention through fast corners andas we discovered in our 2012 Best Drivers Car shootout brakes that went out to lunch if you worked them too hard on a track. But with each iteration since, Lamborghini chief technology officer Maurizio Reggianis engineers have poked the beast back into the cage. The long, wide Sin still fills a road, but both ends of the car know each other. The talkative steering is pin-sharp, the ride taut. You know what all four wheels are up to, all the time. And you can trust the brakes. This Hybrid Hypercar Is a Proper Lambo --> The Sin might be better mannered than an Aventador, but its as intensely visceral an experience as youd expect a big-banger Lamborghini to be. New titanium inlet valves and tweaks to the engine management system mean the 6.5-liter V-12 bangs out 774 hp at 8,500 rpm on its own, the most ever from a Lamborghini road cars engine. With no turbos to dull the response or muffle the noise, the big V-12 is simply glorious above 6,500 rpm; its brilliantly alert and ready to give it all, right to the redline. The world will be a grayer place when emission controls and fuel economy regulations finally consign this engine to the history books. Yes, the Lamborghini Sin is a hybrid, though the system is fundamentally used to solve a drivability issue in an aging but still deeply charismatic powertrain. The lightning-fast supercapacitor technology is fascinating, right on brand for Lamborghini, and not without promise: Tesla spent $218 million acquiring supercapacitor firm Maxwell Technologies in 2019. Finally, the Sin serves as proof the words Lamborghini and hybrid are likely to get even better acquainted in the future. 2021 Lamborghini Sin Specifications PRICE $2,640,000 LAYOUT Mid-engine, AWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe ENGINE 6.5L/774-hp/531-lb-ft DOHC 48-valve V-12 plus 34-hp/26-lb-ft electric motor; 807 hp (comb) TRANSMISSION 7-speed auto-clutch man CURB WEIGHT 3,350 lb (mfr) WHEELBASE 106.3 in L x W x H 196.1 x 82.7 x 44.6 in 060 MPH 2.8 sec (mfr) EPA FUEL ECON, CITY/HWY/COMB Not yet rated ON SALE Now The post 2021 Lamborghini Sin FKP 37 First Drive: Absolutely Mind-Melting appeared first on MotorTrend .