Lamborghini's big-wing Revuelto prototype has Aventador SVJ-style side intakes. Is it still a Revuelto?

Take the camouflage off and one thing jumps out. We ran a frame of Lamborghini's big-wing Revuelto test car from spotter VarryX's video through an AI edit to remove the swirl wrap (above: the real photo on top, our render below). With the wrap gone, the Y-shaped headlights, the cabin and the roofline are plainly a Revuelto's. The opening behind the door isn't. It's a tall, near-vertical intake with an upright blade at its front edge, much more like the last Aventador SVJ's than the production Revuelto's sloping, Y-shaped slot.

The render is our interpretation, not a photo, so anything hidden under the wrap is a guess. But the intake shape isn't something the AI made up. It shows in the real video frames too, as the side-by-side photos below make clear. Last week we asked whether this prototype is an SVJ or the Revuelto's mid-life update (our first story). That intake raised a different question: is it still really a Revuelto? Almost everything else on the car matches the production model, plus a new scoop on top of the rear fender, a new diffuser and the tall wing. Since we published, a source we consider reliable has told us the answer: it's a test car for a future Lamborghini model, and whatever that car becomes won't look much like this. So the intakes and wing are best read as hardware being tested under a Revuelto body, not a preview of a final design. Lamborghini hasn't commented on the car.

The side intake doesn't match

The side intake is one of the Revuelto's defining shapes. Lamborghini design chief Mitja Borkert built the car around a repeating Y theme at the front, rear and sides, and the huge Y-shaped intake behind each door is what gives it, in his words, a "maximum mid-engined look" (Oracle of Time, evo). On the road, as the blue Revuelto in the same video shows, it reads as a slim slot sloping down and forward under a body-colored blade (PistonHeads called them huge blade-shaped intakes).

The prototype's opening is taller and almost upright, and it sits deeper in the bodywork, with a vertical blade running down its leading edge. Above it, on top of the rear fender, is a separate scoop, the extra vent The Supercar Blog first pointed out. Other outlets saw the change too. Autoevolution says the vents behind the doors "seem to have been tweaked," and Motor Illustrated says the air outlets behind the doors and the side skirts look different.

Why it looks like an Aventador

The Aventador, which the Revuelto replaced in 2023, had a large, deep intake behind each door plus a second vent on top of each rear fender. On early cars that upper vent even opened automatically above 99 mph or when the oil got hot (MotorTrend). The Aventador SVJ kept that two-level layout and made the side intakes bigger to cool its more powerful V12, according to Lamborghini. The prototype follows that recipe, which is why it looks like an Aventador SVJ from the side.

Everything else says Revuelto

Look anywhere else and the car is plainly a Revuelto:

• Front: the Y-shaped LED running lights carry over, and Motor Illustrated says the hood looks unchanged. The bumper and splitter are new.
• Cabin and roof: the windows, door shape and roofline match the production car's.
• Rear: the twin hexagonal exhaust tips sit high in the middle of the tail between thin Y-shaped taillights, just like the Revuelto's. Borkert has called the hexagon exhaust the boldest visual signal of the engine (evo). The diffuser below it is new, and of course there's the tall fixed rear wing.

Why Lamborghini would change the intake

On a mid-engined Lamborghini, side intakes are there to cool the engine first. The Revuelto SV, which already has new side air inlets, shows how hard that gets. The Revuelto's product line director told Road & Track that early SV prototypes cut power on track because they ran too hot, and that fixing the cooling forced changes to the bodywork itself.

I change the position of the radiator, and then I can no longer use the fender. Then I need to change the fender.

— Revuelto product line director, to Road & Track

So a bigger intake behind the door and a new scoop on the fender point to hardware that needs to shed more heat than the SV's. Given what we're now told, that's most likely cooling and aerodynamic parts for a future model being tried out on a Revuelto body, which would also explain the tall wing and new diffuser.

So what is it?

• A test car for a future model (what we're told). A source we consider reliable says this is a test car for a future Lamborghini, and that the finished car won't look much like it. Carmakers often hide new hardware under an existing body, which fits a car that's Revuelto everywhere except its intakes, wing and diffuser. We don't know which model it's for or when it's due.
• A Revuelto SVJ, or another harder version. This was our leading guess before the tip. The wing, diffuser, wheels and cooling openings could still end up on a more extreme car, but the car we saw shouldn't be read as a preview of one. Against it: Lamborghini commercial chief Federico Foschini said there won't be an SVJ on top of the SV in this half of the Revuelto's life (CarExpert). He didn't rule one out later, as our first story explains.
• The mid-life update. Less likely now, at least in this form. The fender scoop first appeared on an earlier facelift test car, according to The Supercar Blog, which still thinks this is the updated Revuelto due around 2028. But a facelift would have to give up one of Borkert's signature shapes just a few years in, a big step for a mid-life update.
• A limited-run special. Still possible as the future model, but the finished car's body would be different. Lamborghini has done this on the Revuelto platform before. The Fenomeno, revealed at The Quail in August 2025, is a Revuelto-based limited-run car with 1,065 horsepower and a completely new body. Foschini told Autocar that small-run cars like it are where Lamborghini tries upgrades before putting them into larger-scale production. VarryX himself wondered whether this was a one-off, ItalPassion reports. Ad Personam, Lamborghini's personalization department, usually changes paint and trim, not cooling hardware.
• A track car. Squadra Corse, Lamborghini's racing department, has built track-only V12 cars before, like the 40-unit Essenza SCV12. But this car was driving on public roads near the factory, which points to a road car.

That fits what we're told. Test cars often wear existing panels over new hardware, so the Revuelto nose, cabin and tail are most likely carryover parts. The parts that were clearly changed are the ones doing the work: intakes, fender scoops, diffuser and wing. Italy's Autoblog.it says it can't yet tell whether they're meant for a production version, a one-off or an experimental program.

Market perspective

Our Nov 2, 2026 US and Canada listings show 80 Revueltos with a middle asking price close to $696,000 (about $580,000 to $950,000), and no Revuelto SVs yet. For comparison, the car this test car resembles from the side asks far more: 16 Aventador SVJ coupes at a middle price close to $1,278,000 and 27 SVJ Roadsters close to $1,579,000. These are asking prices, not sales.

What to watch

• Any new test cars wearing these intakes on a different body, which would show what future model they're for.
• Monterey Car Week in August 2027. Lamborghini often saves big reveals for that week, as it did with the Fenomeno at The Quail in 2025.