The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento finally bared itself to the world in Paris, sporting 570 hp and carbon fiber everything. Pardon us if we feel the stripping was not worth the teasing.
As expected, the Sesto Elemento isn't a new model, but a tech demonstrator for Lamborghini to show off what it can do with carbon fiber and glue. The all-wheel-drive and 570-hp V10 can pull the 2,202-lb. show pony to 62 mph in 2.7 seconds while not gulping quite as much gasoline as everyday Lamborghinis.
Every part of the vehicle carries some kind of carbon-fiber component, from the monocoque body to the suspension to the seats, which are actually just pads on top of special body moldings. Lowering weight is an admirable goal, and one we wholeheartedly support, but perhaps they could have dropped another 50 pounds by removing all the over-styling.
There's special coatings and special assembly procedures and materials science at play, and if you're a chemist or manufacturing engineer, maybe there's something fascinating here. But it's not a production model, and it's not clear that it points towards anything new actually being built. For the rest of us, time to move along.