Would you drive your 2023 Lamborghini Huracán, starting price $248,295, off-road? Oh, and badly paved road near your home doesn’t count. Well, you would – make that could – if it was the 2023 Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato.
Lamborghini unveiled the new off-road rally all-terrain model Wednesday night at an invitation-only event that runs through Saturday. The debut was held at the Lamborghini Beach Lounge in the 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami Beach during the start of Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art fair that runs through the weekend.
“You always want to do something unexpected,” said Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, during an exclusive interview with The Detroit Bureau. “We have a four-wheel drive car, which is something which you can use extensively in every condition but we never used it on gravel. … It’s a good combination because it’s unexpected.”
What it offers
At first glance, the Huracán Sterrato stands apart from its siblings with body cladding around the wheel arches and optional driving lights up front. There are also any number of Italian rally body graphics. But there’s more to this model than meets the eye.
“From day one, it has to be fun, but it has to aslo be functional,” said Mitja Borkert, Lamborghini’s Design Chief in an exclusive interview with The Detroit Bureau.
This explains the massive air scoop just behind the passenger compartment.
“When we were drifting the car in the on the dirt road, we were constantly having all the powder going into the air filter. So we needed to have the system and it was specially developed to provide fresh air for the engine. And that became a special feature in terms of design and in terms of functionality,” said Borkert.
The automaker also increased the ground clearance by 1.73 inches compared with the Huracán Evo to ensure greater suspension travel, and widened the track as well, 1.18 inches up front and 1.34 inches in the rear. There’s also aluminum front underbody protection, reinforced sills, and a rear diffuser. And it comes shod with custom-engineered Bridgestone 19-inch run-flat tires.
Technically talking
Inside, it wears exclusive Alcantara trim, and the instrumentation includes a digital inclinometer with pitch and roll indicator, a compass, geographic coordinate indicator, and steering angle indicator. Other tech goodies inlude the ability to use Amazon Alexa to adjust car features such as air conditioning and lighting, as well as the option of Apple Watch users to synchronize their heart rate information with the on-board telemetry system. A Lamborghini Drive Recorder is also available to photograph every drive experience.
The Huracán Sterrato is powered by a 5.2-liter V10 internal combustion engine generates 610 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission to an electronically controlled all-wheel drive system with a self-locking rear mechanical differential. This allows the Huracán Sterrato to accelerate to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds. Top speed is 160 mph, according to Lamborghini. Brakes are ventilated and cross-drilled carbon-ceramic discs with aluminum fixed monoblock calipers with six pistons in front and four pistons in the rear.
How the car came to be
If the idea of rally-equipped Huracán sounds outlandish, it may not be as outlandish as you suspect.
The idea came about after Lamborghini took their vehicles for a session of dirt track drifting on an oval. If this sounds familiar, you must be an American.
“It was so much fun, especially to drive it on the dirt track and drifting it. We were like wow, this is a complete new driving experience for Lamborghini,” said Borkert. “Then, we’re having a wine and talking about it, and we said, ‘why are we not taking this to our super sports cars?’ We were creating this idea that evening, and so we went back to Sant’Agata and it became a success story internally because everyone believed in it. In the beginning, it was maybe a strange idea.”
Not so any longer.
Production of the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato will be limited to 1,499 units, a final burst of internal combustion engine euphoria beginning in February 2023.
Brand extensions
But not everyone will be able to buy a Huracán Sterrato, so, like other automakers, Lamborghini is expanding their brand to other luxury items. To that end, Lamborghini is seeking to extend its off-road products with the introduction of the 3T Exploro Racemax x Huracán Sterrato bike. Crafted in Italy by 3T, it employs 3T’s carbon fiber technology. Finished in the Huracán Sterrato’s Verde Gea livery, it’s accented by Sterrato script on the saddle. The bike will be available worldwide in early 2023.
In addition, Swiss watch manufacturer Roger Dubuis unveiled a new collaboration with Lamborghini in the form of the new Excalibur Spider Huracán Monobalancier. Previous timepieces from the watchmaker and the automaker include the Excalibur Spider Huracán.
Hot spot for luxury automakers
Automakers have flocked to Art Basel Miami Beach in the past few years looking to tempt luxury consumers with their latest offerings. The show’s modern art focus and high prices mixed with the International allure of Miami’s golden sands and high-end retailers, restaurants and hotels make for an amusing spectacle. It’s not the art that makes Art Bazel a spectacle, it’s the retailing hubris.
It’s here where a hungry spectator spotted a banana duct-taped to a wall, part of an art installation by Maurizio Cattelan. The piece was sold three times in 2019, at prices ranging from $120,000 to $150,000.
Is it any wonder the world’s most exclusive automakers can be found there?
Among the automakers making their presence known are Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lincoln and Audi. Cadillac doesn’t have an official presence, but their participation is noticeable by the sheer number of Cadillac Escalades providing black car service.
