Wednesday 27th May 2015

Lamborghini Urus confirmed

You thought Lotus making a 4x4 was odd... expect an Urus on the road in 2018!

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Oh gosh, it's actually happening now! Lamborghini has announced a third model will join its model range, a luxury SUV based on the Urus concept from a few years back.

The one they made earlier...

The demand for large SUVs from Europe's luxury manufacturers shows no sign of abating and so the decision to press on with an Urus perhaps isn't that surprising. It's a big deal for Lambo, to the extent that there's even Government investment behind the project; the Urus will funded in part by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

Now of course Lamborghini would love to tell us about the conquest customers the Urus will bring, the significant expansion of Sant'Agata to accommodate the production line and the new staff it will hire to for the car's development. But we need to know more about what the Urus will actually be, information that's frustratingly absent for now. Time to speculate...

Lamborghini has previously said it will have the lowest CO2 of any comparable car. Surely by 2018 this will require some sort of hybridisation? It has already signalled some intent with the Asterion LP910-4 so you would have to assume the Urus will feature electric assistance somewhere in its powertrain. Let's see if 'around 600hp' makes production too.

It'll be in Waitrose before you know it

Moreover, since the Urus was first shown Bentley has announced the Bentayga which will surely share some tech with the Urus. The Bentley is due before the Lamborghini which gives the latter some opportunity to make it a little more Lambo before launch. Which presumably involves making it louder in every single sense.

Lamborghini sees the luxury SUV sector as an "unexploited [really?!], fast-growing and fascinating car segment", one it expects to contribute around 3,000 sales to. Already identified as target markets are the USA, China, the Middle East, the UK, Germany and Russia. Lord help us. More details are they're released!

[LM002 photo: RM Sotheby's]

[dannymullered]

Clearly made for the Middle East, where you can kind of justify it.

Makes absolutely no sense anywhere else.