Pretty much every Lamborghini has been named after a fighting bull. Here, Temerario goes all the way back to 1875—they say it means courageous and bold, but plugging the name into Google comes back with a translation into reckless, daredevil, brash, and the like. The 2026 Lamborghini Temerario aims to carry on this tradition of bold, outrageous, and characterful cars, but in talking with Lamborghini’s North American CEO Andrea Baldi at a private sneak-peek ahead of the Temerario’s Canadian reveal, we learned this brash daredevil has some very mature ambitions.

AB: “Typically our buyers are a little younger, but we’re seeing a lot of interest from a more mature crowd who might appreciate a more subtle approach … we have a lot of customers from Urus who are now willing to trust us with a two-seater now.”

This came up as we stood next to a Temerario finished in matte Blu Marinus, a dark shade that makes the Temerario almost stealthy. It’s a stark contrast to the screaming bright Verde Mercurius Temerario Alleggerita positioned across from it. Regardless of which flavour you prefer, the Temerario is instantly recognizable as a Lamborghini, with a familiar dramatic silhouette and signature hexagonal design flourishes.

AB: “For the cabin, it was very important to keep the fighter-pilot feeling. There was some debate about what goes on the screens, but we decided to try to keep almost everything on the steering wheel as before, so it’s more focused like a fighter pilot.”

When I read that the Temerario has three screens, I was worried Lamborghini might have lost their way. But the Temerario is mercifully familiar and driver centric, staying true to what was already working in terms of ergonomics and design. At a glance, the centre screen and digital gauge cluster look roughly the same size as before, albeit running updated software, and there’s a very small display on the passenger side. It’s not a digital overload as I feared.

Given that the Temerario is much larger than the Huracan, there’s considerably more room behind the seats and much more headroom, but it still feels snug and intimate. The Temerario Alleggerita, with it’s bare carbon doors and centre tunnel, felt almost exactly like the Huracan Tecnica I adored last year. By comparison, the more subtle “base” Temerario, with it’s French-stitched cognac leather, represents a far more grown-up car but keeps the sense of theatre and occasion in tact.

AB: “The Alleggerita is a more lightweight, focused driver’s car. As you can see, it’s obviously a lot more dramatic, with the carbon aero additions, the red accents, and the carbon fibre wheels. It’s a lot more exciting and specialized… with the weight of the hybrid battery, a lot of effort went into reducing weight wherever we could.

For example, like in the Aventador, you add up the weight of the gearbox that was in the tunnel transmitting the power to the front. All that … was 200 kilos, and now that’s not there, it’s just the electric motor. It’s only slightly heavier than the Huracan at 1,590 kilos, but it has 907 horsepower. Performance has improved dramatically, and that defines the driving dynamics of the car.”

Speaking with both Baldi and Francesco Albano, Lamborghini’s head of product marketing, later in the evening, there’s a real sense of pride with the new powertrain. While there’s an obvious mandate on reducing emissions, they’ve been keen to make the most of the new plug-in hybrid powertrain and the very real advantages it offers not just to the environment, but to the Lamborghini driving experience.

AB: “It’s brilliant when you look at the intelligent electrification, because it reduces emissions and helps us there. That was the fundamental goal that was behind trying to move our technology in a direction that is cleaner. But we wanted to improve performance and we wanted to stand by our promise to our customers that every Lamborghini that comes is way better than the one before. It’s just another level, and every time you need to set the bar that high.”

They’re very aware of the concerns about losing the sense of thrill that the Huracan’s V10 offered, and have addressed it very directly with the car’s new engine. Speaking of, I was surprised to learn it’s Lamborghini’s own creation, rather than a donor from their parent group at Volkswagen.

AB: “This engine has been entirely designed and created within Lamborghini. You know that in the past we have synergies with Volkswagen group, but this engine is entirely our project. I cannot rule out that no one in the group will ask for it to be part of those synergies, but nobody will have the exact same engine. As of now, this is being designed exclusively for Temerario.

It is the highest revving engine. It was a necessity because you want to deliver emotions to a client, and that’s a fundamental goal for a Lamborghini car. You cannot take what was existing and translate it into a Lamborghini without pushing the boundaries to a level that is unprecedented. And because this is a very competitive segment, we needed to go in a direction where nobody could follow us easily.”

The 4.0-litre V8 powering the Temerario makes 789 horsepower on its own thanks to a pair of “very big” variable-vane turbochargers, but the real highlight is its searing 10,000 rpm redline—the highest in series-production car ever, only eclipsed by limited-run, multi-million-dollar missiles like the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Combined with its electric motors, total powertrain output is over 900 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. That’s a massive leap over the Huracan’s V10.

This previously impossible engine was only possible because of the switch to a modern powertrain setup with turbocharging and hybridization. In talking with Francesco Albano, Lamborghini’s head of product marketing who flew in from Italy for this launch, he was keen to emphasize the efficacy of the powertrain as a whole, not just the engine.

FA: “We don’t just talk about the engine, we talk about the powertrain. It’s very important to us. It’s three parts—the hybrid, the turbo, and the engine. It’s the heart. We could go to such extremes with the engine and the turbos because of the hybrid; they couldn’t exist without each other. It’s more than just being faster, it has to deliver more of the Lamborghini experience.”

In an era where environmental regulations almost mandate the use of direct injection and turbocharging, whose natural limits tend to make engines maybe more powerful but definitely less exciting, Lamborghini has gone out of their way to vehemently buck the trend. It’s exactly the way you’d expect of a raging bull, and this is just the start.

FA: “The car has a full life cycle planned … the best is yet to come.”

AB: “Ten thousand rpm it can reach. Well, it was limited at ten thousand, let’s say it that way … it can go higher.”

Suffice to say, we’re very much looking forward to experiencing this car on the road. The Temerario is an extremely ambitious offering, and shows Lamborghini is committed to preserving the wild exuberance that put them on the map in the first place. Reckless may be in its name, but not in its careful execution. Pricing for the 2026 Lamborghini Temerario begins at $432,000, and the extra-picante Alleggerita package adds another $80,000. Orders are open now, with deliveries expected to begin in 2026.