New issue out now: new-look Top Gear magazine celebrates the V12

Just a few years ago most manufacturers were dutifully plotting a course for a full EV future. Some, to our delight, were enjoying one last party by green lighting bucket list projects with silly combustion engines while they still could, but the mood music was clear – petrol engines would be dead within the next 15 years.

Cut to 2024 and, certainly among supercar makers, the message is far more bullish – they’re going to keep them alive for as long as they possibly can. Why? Because the market has spoken and what monied car buyers want are engines bursting with character and engineering creativity, not violently powerful electric motors. Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti-Rimac, recently went on record to say his Nevera hypercar isn’t selling, and he might not do another pure-electric project like it when the demand is so low. Fortunately, he has a successor to the Bugatti Chiron, fitted with a monster Cosworth V16, coming soon to balance the books.

Lotus is also struggling to shift Evijas – its long-delayed EV hypercar contender – in any meaningful numbers, while John Hennessey has put his (admittedly very mad) Project Deep Space EV hyper GT project on ice because his customers clearly told him they weren’t interested. The play here appears to be hedging your bets and waiting it out.

Like Lamborghini, whose strategy is embracing electrification up to a point – to keep its VW Group overlords happy and fleet CO2 emissions down – but then making everything else about the car as bonkers as possible. See Lanzador, its sensible EV SUV for 2028... that happens to look like a supercar wearing platform shoes. Or Revuelto, a plug-in hybrid wedge that’s so easy to pilot you can take your driving test in it (we know, we did it this issue), but happens to have a socking great naturally aspirated V12. Or the Huracán’s ‘sensible’ hybrid twin-turbo V8 successor... that’ll rev to 10,000rpm. 

Ferrari is also employing a three-pillar powertrain strategy – massive unassisted engines like in the new Dodici Cilindri, hybrids like the SF90 and the EV something coming later this year. As far as Ferrari is concerned, its customers should tell it what they want to buy, rather than the other way round.

This issue then is an ode to the V12, a love letter to the thunderous configuration that’s graced more bedroom walls than any other, and looks like it will for a long while to come. So, we’ve got the full story on the Dodici Cilindri, a drive of the incredible Pagani Utopia and a erm… driving test in the Lamborghini Revuelto.

Oh, and this issue also features a whole new look for Top Gear magazine, there are new features like our ‘How to…’ explainer, which this month gives you TG’s tips on how to protect your passengers safe in the event of an attack. Proper consumer advice. There’s also new columns from Jethro Bovingdon and Natalie Pinkham, while Tessa Whittock – a self-taught drifter and stunt double – is our first Wheel Nut. That’s not an insult either, it’s our way of celebrating unsung heroes with unhealthy obsessions.  

Plus, you still get all of the big stories that you know and love. In this issue The Stig takes on an AI racer, the Kia Picanto takes on some very narrow roads and we meet the Fastest Pastor – a man spreading a message of hope… with the help of an old LMP3 car.

You can click these blue words to buy the new issue of Top Gear magazine and have it delivered direct to your door. Or perhaps you’d like even more from TG? You can start a subscription today and get 12 issues for just £29.99. Bargain. Click here to take advantage.