Lamborghini stormed the heady hypercar market with its multi-million-dollar hybrid Sián FKP 37 like a flash of lightning, which is what its name means in the Bolognese dialect of Emilian. The distinctive moniker pays homage to the region where Lamborghini is headquartered and also honors late Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Karl Piëch with his initials and birth year. Piëch oversaw the German automaker’s acquisition of Lamborghini in 1998.

“The Lamborghini Sián represents the first step in Lamborghini’s route to electrification and expedites our next-generation V-12 engine,” said Stefano Domenicali, Lamborghini chairman and CEO. It is a significant turning point for the company, an acknowledgment that even the most uncompromising performance cars will incorporate some form of alternative propulsion going forward.

The Sián shares its chassis and 6.5-liter V-12 with the Aventador. Improved with a new titanium intake manifold, the engine was uprated to 785 horsepower at 8,500 rpm, the highest output ever from a Lamborghini engine at the time of its unveiling. Supplementing it is an innovative hybrid system delivering an additional 34 horsepower, bringing total output for the Sián to 819 horsepower and giving it a better power-to-weight ratio than the Aventador.

To circumvent the weight penalty of typical hybrid systems, Lamborghini incorporated a supercapacitor that powers a 48-volt electric motor built into the car’s seven-speed automated manual gearbox. Lamborghini claims that the supercapacitor is a world-first in a hybrid production car and is three times more powerful than a battery of the same weight and three times lighter than a battery producing the same power. The entire electric system weighs 75 pounds, with the supercapacitor located in the bulkhead between the cockpit and engine for ideal weight distribution.

Besides its weight, the key advantage of a supercapacitor over batteries is that it can discharge full power instantaneously, making the Sián the fastest-accelerating Lamborghini ever at the time of its launch, achieving 0 to 62 mph in less than 2.8 seconds. It also eliminates lag between upshifts during acceleration. An evolution of similar technology used for the start-stop system in the Aventador, the supercapacitor can recharge instantaneously through regenerative braking.

The Sián reinterprets the Lamborghini Countach’s iconic wedge profile, incorporating elements both familiar, like the “periscopio” channel in the roof, and new, such as the Y-shaped lighting elements first seen on the Terzo Millennio electric hypercar. Lamborghini used advancements in material science to incorporate cooling vanes at the rear that operate without motors or electronics by reacting to thermal shifts, opening automatically at higher temperatures.

Lamborghini limited production of the Sián FKP 37 to just 63 examples, a number that represents the year the company was founded. By the time of its debut at the 2019 Frankfurt International Motor Show in Germany, all were spoken for, each one customized by its owner directly through Lamborghini’s Centro Stile, ensuring that no two are alike.

This stunning example was originally delivered to Holman Performance Holdings in Chesterfield, Missouri, according to its window sticker. It is finished in Viola Aletheia, a deep purple that contrasts beautifully with the forged, center-locking, copper-colored wheels. The exterior features the Carbon Package, a $105,216 factory option, while the interior is finished in Nero Cosmus with purple and copper detailing that coordinates with the exterior color scheme. Displaying 208 miles at cataloguing time, it represents an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire one of Lamborghini’s landmark first hybrid hypercars.