Lamborghini unveils €1.5bn plan to make all cars hybrid electric by 2024

Italian sports car maker Lamborghini has announced plans to phase out combustion engines and produce only hybrid electric cars by 2024.

The move follows a host of other carmakers onto the electric marketplace, as attentions shift towards tackling climate change.

It also outlined a target to reduce product CO2 emissions by 50% by the beginning of 2025.

The shift towards more sustainable model is what Lamborghini calls the "largest investment in [its] history", coming in at more than €1.5bn (£1.3bn, $1.8bn) over the course of four years.

Its vision includes a new fully-electric model which should roll off production lines in the second part of the decade, it said.

The company said in a release that the "absolute priority throughout the entire electrification program" will be product performance.

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“Lamborghini’s electrification plan is a newly-plotted course, necessary in the context of a radically-changing world, where we want to make our contribution by continuing to reduce environmental impact through concrete projects," said Stephan Winkelmann, president and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini.

"Today’s promise, supported by the largest investment plan in the brand’s history, reinforces our deep dedication to not only our customers, but also to our fans, our people and their families, as well as to the territory where the company was born in Emilia-Romagna and to Made in Italy excellence.”

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Lamborghini follows carmakers such as Ford (F), Jaguar Land Rover and Tesla (TSLA) in offering an all-electric offering.

In February, Ford said it would "go all-in on its electric passenger vehicles," pledging to make all of its European cars zero-emission, electric or hybrid by 2026. The European business will produce only electric passenger vehicles by 2030.

Volkswagen (VOW.DE) has also been riding high off the success of its electric offering. In its latest financial update in May, it said sales of electric cars and SUVs doubled to 133,300 units, including 59,900 battery electric ones. The remainder were plug-in hybrids. Volkswagen expects 25% of European sales to be all electric in 2025.

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