Interview: Lamborghini’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann & Design Director, Filippo Perini

Angus: What are your thoughts on the Veneno?

FP: This is a real supercar with a clear briefing to reach the maximum level of downforce, because basically it is a racecar. That was the primary goal of the first design brief. After that the intent was to celebrate Lamborghini’s 50th Anniversary and explore new design languages. The car is also an extreme experiment in which we can carry over various design and technological aspects into future production vehicles.

It is better for us to experiment with cars like the Veneno because it allows us to make mistakes … mistakes that would not generally be tolerated on a production vehicle. If you recall we did something like this with the Reventon where we explored new languages, so we are used to working in this fashion when it comes to concept cars. Some things are usable and some are not.

It doesn’t make sense to us to just design a car for show. We want to see the car in real world situations, so we can test new materials and again, explore our design language. For example in the Veneno, you can find a lot of forged composites in the body, as well as soft carbon fiber material in the seats. So for me, it’s a way to showcase and explore new materials.

Angus: What design aspects or visual experience do you want people to take away when they see the Aventador?

FP: I want people to know that it is built around a clear concept. You can see this tension in the line (pointing to Aventador’s fast angular waistline) but what’s even more fun is trying to find all the hexagonal design elements in the car.

Angus: Hexagonal honeycomb shapes are definitely one of Aventador’s key design elements. Why is it is such an influential shape in the finished design?

FP: Yes, there are roughly a thousand hexagonal shapes throughout the car (you are welcome to try to count them if you like). In the production cars you can find these shapes in the rims, the switches, the engine bay, etc.

But it is funny, normally in designing a new car there are a lot of problems to solve, especially when it comes to newly shaped parts. One night a colleague asked me “Filippo, I’m having trouble here, what can I do?” to which I responded “Try to solve it with a hexagonal part.” The next day (laughing) they had solved the problem.

Even though it is a bit of game, trying to fit the hexagonal pieces together, it is important to us because we need to treat the car with a homogeneous design. The hexagonal elements allow us to do that.”

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Special thanks to the guy in the tailored suits, Mr. Winkelmann and Filippo Perini for indulging our Lamborghini inquisitions.

Source: Lamborghini

Short vid of Mr. Perini describing his design process