The Lamborghini Huracán Performante and its 6:52 lap
Waiting on your car repair? Here's a fact to share when your car's back: on 5 October 2016, a Lamborghini Huracán Performante lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany in 6 minutes 52.01 seconds, a new production-car lap record according to Lamborghini. The Nordschleife is the 20-kilometer track carmakers use to prove a point. This car proved it before the public had even seen it: Lamborghini unveiled the Performante at the Geneva Motor Show on 6 March 2017.
The wing that thinks
The big trick is called ALA, short for Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva. Ala is also the Italian word for wing, which is about as on-the-nose as naming gets. Electric flaps in the front spoiler and inside the rear wing open or close in under 500 milliseconds. Closed, the car presses itself into the road; Lamborghini says the rear makes 750% more downforce than a regular Huracán coupé. Open, the air slips through and drag drops for the straights.
The clever part is aero vectoring. The rear wing's inner channel is split left and right, so in a fast corner the system can add downforce to just one side. In plain English: the wing helps steer.
Forged Composite, the marbled stuff
Look closely at the spoilers, engine cover and diffuser and they don't have the usual checkerboard carbon weave. That's Lamborghini's Forged Composite: chopped carbon fibers in resin, pressed into shapes regular carbon fiber can't easily make. Lamborghini credits it with a 40 kg weight cut. It looks like black marble, and it's the one marble countertop nobody complains about.
The Huracán Performante by the numbers
- Engine: 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10, 640 CV (about 631 hp) at 8,000 rpm, the most powerful V10 Lamborghini had built at the time
- 0–62 mph: 2.9 seconds; 0–124 mph: 8.9 seconds
- Top speed: more than 325 km/h (202 mph)
- Drive: permanent all-wheel drive
- Dry weight: 1,382 kg
- US suggested retail price at launch: $274,390, taxes excluded
Why the Performante turns heads
The Italian tricolore stripe runs along the doors, a nod to Sant'Agata Bolognese where it's built, and you can see it plainly in Darin's photo above along with the Performante script. The exhausts sit high and central, which Lamborghini says was inspired by naked sport motorcycles. Then there's the wing, which on a parked car looks like a dare.
Day dreaming in winter
Yes, it's all-wheel drive, and Lamborghini built it that way from the factory. If you own something like this, it's probably right where it belongs this time of year: warm and spotless in a clean garage. Leave it there. Our fleet is still out driving, and you can pick your dates.
Where to see a Huracán Performante
Chicago Motor Cars in West Chicago lists a 2018 Huracán LP640-4 Performante coupe in Verde Mantis at $329,800 (asking price on their site, checked Oct 22, 2026). Tap the photo or the button to see it. Darin's photo is a different Performante, the matte gray one with yellow calipers. For scale: that asking price is above the car's US starting price in 2017. A Nürburgring record apparently holds its value better than your transmission.
The honest part
Service, insurance and tire costs are pending until we find numbers from a source we trust. Our own difficulty rating is pending too. We'd rather leave a bar empty than guess.
Seller pick: Chicago Motor Cars
2018 Huracán LP640-4 Performante coupe in Verde Mantis at Chicago Motor Cars, West Chicago, IL. Listed price: $329,800 (checked Oct 22, 2026). Sold by the dealer, not by us.
Sources: preview.thenewsmarket.com · lamborghini.com · chicagomotorcars.com