What’s being billed as the “world’s fastest” sport-utility vehicle has made its North American debut at the Detroit Auto Show.
But the 189 mph super-ute won’t live alone in the Lambo line-up, at least not for long, officials with the Italian automaker telling TheDetroitBureau.com that they are already working on a second model that will join the Lamborghini Urus in showrooms about two years from now.
During a presentation in downtown Detroit, the Italian automaker’s Chief Technology Officer Maurizio Reggiani stressed that the Urus deserves to be viewed as a true Lamborghini, and not some sort of quirky compromise, because it “shares the strong DNA that comes from our sports cars.”
That said, the Urus does deviate from the brand’s well-established formula in several ways. For one thing, it stands in sharp contrast to models like the Huracan and Aventador – though it actually isn’t Lamborghini’s first SUV. Early on, the Italian marque produced a limited run of the boxy, almost military-styled LM-002. But it hasn’t revisited the SUV segment in decades.
Meanwhile, the Urus is the first Lamborghini to use a turbocharged engine – in this case, a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that punches out 650 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. That’s in line with what the brand’s smaller sports car, the Huracan, now produces – though, at around 4,850 pounds, there’s a lot more mass to move with Urus.
(Lamborghini officially enters super-SUV market with debut of 2019 Urus. Click Here for the story.)
Nonetheless, the new ute can manage to launch from 0 to 60 in a mere 3.4 seconds, hit 140 in 12.8 seconds and top out at 189 mph. And to enhance the raw power, especially when the Urus drive mode selector is in Sport Mode, “There is a special exhaust sound that is a true Lamborghini,” said Reggiani.
The selector not only offers the sort of modes a typically, road-ready Lambo offers, but also allows a driver to set up for the more challenging, snow, sand and mud experiences serious SUV owners relish.
To handle more difficult circumstances off-road there are features like Active Damping and an active anti-roll bar on the Urus. The Italian automaker also added features that can be useful in a variety of situations, such as torque vectoring and four-wheel-steer.
To scrub off speed, meanwhile, Urus features carbon-ceramic brakes. They can bring the big ute from 60 to a dead stop in just 110 feet, according to Lambo.
(Click Here for more about the Lambo Performante.)
As with virtually all Lamborghini sports cars, past and present, all that power is directed to the ute’s four wheels, though it is biased to the rear wheels under normal circumstances.
The Urus is already in production and rolling into European dealer showrooms. U.S. buyers can place orders now but won’t be taking delivery until the third quarter of this year.
Lambo, which is technically a subsidiary of Audi, the luxury arm of Volkswagen AG, has big plans for the Urus. “I would say that it will make up half of our sales in 2018, over 4,000 (Urus utes),” Alessandro Farmeschi, the automaker’s chief operating officer, told TheDetroitBureau.com.
And that could grow in the years ahead as the company adds a second ute. While it will be based on the Urus, CTO Reggiani told TheDetroitBureau.com it will rely on a plug-in hybrid drivetrain. “We’re already working on it,” Reggiani added, though he cautioned that some of the key technical specifications, including the size of the battery pack and electric-only range, have yet to be locked down.
(To see more about the battle for the title of fastest sport utility vehicle, Click Here.)
That said, Lamborghini hopes to have the plug-in SUV in production around 2020.
