RE: Prior Convictions: Urus looming

[AndrewD]

A lot of talk of Range Rovers and Cayennes but the starting price of this car is £180k so it will be over 200k quite easily with options. It is a completely different market to the majority of RR and Cayennes.

I can't quite work out the market for these. My daily is a 991.2 Turbo S and I would never swap for an Urus. The Porsche is black and blends in but brings a smile to your face when you have the opportunity to exercise the car a little. This is the complete polar opposite in so many respects. And surely nobody with kids or dogs is going to put them in a 200k+ car on a daily basis as it will get trashed.

Sure there is a very small market who won't buy it for any real use but that can't be the business case.

Logic aside, I love Lamborghini for their more crazy side. They aren't up themselves like Ferrari in my humble opinion, they are about fun and silliness still. But stuff like this is slowly eroding the brand. I'm not even sure the Performante was a good idea - they are trying too hard to be serious, chasing Ring times and journalistic praise and car of the year type of thing. Sign of the times I guess.

[Lambo FirstBlood]

AndrewD said:

A lot of talk of Range Rovers and Cayennes but the starting price of this car is £180k so it will be over 200k quite easily with options. It is a completely different market to the majority of RR and Cayennes.

It’s not a different market. There just aren’t that many products for these customers to chose from yet. Land Rover have sold plenty of £150k + Range Rovers to customers who would have paid considerably more if they thought it bought them more bragging rights or exclusivity.

Many of the first Bentaygas were over £250 K.

AndrewD said:

And surely nobody with kids or dogs is going to put them in a 200k+ car on a daily basis as it will get trashed.

Oh they will mate, not in every corner of the map but in certain enclaves, they are already doing it in their drones in the most expensive SUV’s you can buy. As soon as more expensive models come along, they’ll be using those in the same way.

[Mr E]

Quickmoose said:

can go either way can't it?
A car engineered to do 200 will feel solid and totally in control at 70...that's good
But a car engineered that way is less likely to be as involving or as exciting...that's not good
A car engineered to perform at 71mph will be pretty lively/exciting at 70....that's good
It will also be on the brink of what it can handle...which is not good.

The car I’m picking up next week has a maximum speed of 87mph. I’m almost certain it will be very, very dull at 70mph. I’m fairly certain it’ll be dull flat out to be honest.

The Elise feels alive going round a car park.

[swisstoni]

So what? If some exotic chavs want to hand their money in, I’m all for it. They clearly don’t know what to do with it.

Meanwhile I’m quite entertained by how designers of various sporty marques are tackling the need to go against the grain and make a 4x4.

This one looks like it might be quite attractive.

[PunterCam]

What a tacky, bland money grab. It's utterly lacking in every way. It'll look ste, because all of these pointy SUVs look ste, and you'll know you're just driving an Audi with a body kit and some stickers. fking horrific.

Sums up how thick people have become.

[AndrewD]

Lambo FirstBlood said:

Oh they will mate, not in every corner of the map but in certain enclaves, they are already doing it in their drones in the most expensive SUV’s you can buy. As soon as more expensive models come along, they’ll be using those in the same way.

Hi there matey. Maybe you're right let's see. Emphatically not the type of car for me! The wife even swapped out of her RR for a Touareg as it was "too posh".

Has the Bentayaga sold many? I get the impression there are always deals to shift metal at Bentley.

[firebird350]

Looks to me as though VAG has finally discovered that, once upon a time, Lamborghini used to make tractors...

[dunnoreally]

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say this will probably be pretty good. It won't go on track like 911gt3 or off-road like a Unimog, but no-one expects it to. It only needs to be pretty alright at both to surpass expectations, and I'm sure it'll have a pricetag that buys a lot of "pretty alright".

Not my thing at all, still, but it will absolutely do everything it sets out to.

[skyrover]

needs the lambo v10 or 12, otherwise what makes it distinct from the sea of other SUV's?

[Audemars]

Porsche Cars = Ugly, especially the Cayenne/Macan
Audi Qx, BMW Xx, Range Rover = Chav cars that are horrendously unreliable.

The above is why there will be a market for the Urus.

[Quickmoose]

Audemars said:

Porsche Cars = Ugly, especially the Cayenne/Macan
Audi Qx, BMW Xx, Range Rover = Chav cars that are horrendously unreliable.

The above is why there will be a market for the Urus.

[BigR]

HighwayStar said:

Ninja59 said:

Sorry it is already ruined without having at least a V10, but more so V12.

It is just going to be another VAG product where the 4.0 V8 pops up again (not that it is a bad engine, but is just nothing special considering this is a Lambo). Even if they say otherwise how can engine have exactly the same capacity and setup, coincidence? Bo**ocks.

Also I think the Urus struggles with the very same issue as Cayenne in that it tries to integrate the design elements of its sister cars in the range and just looks frankly odd.

A V10 or V12 is not really the point of this car though... Lambo are expecting sell loads of these to customers who have Cayennes, Q7s, X5s or whatever as their daily driver. They are looking at 3000 sales annually. They wouldn't get near those numbers with a V10 or V12. It makes more sense to use the 4.0 V8 to do the miles. Straight from the Porsche playbook.

Forgive me, but "selling loads" to customers whose cars are at best half the price (Urus is expected to be around £190k), and with 3000 sales annually? Neither are they going to sell loads and not to many in the Cayenne / Q7 / X5 (in particular) brackets I would think.

That aside, the pros and cons of Lamborghini doing this is a bit like the argument of Maserati doing a diesel engine in a saloon car to rival a 5 series etc. This can be as much about assured survival rather than some rose-tinted view of a past world - one where the likes of Lamborghini and Maserati forever were on the point of going under. Sometimes manufacturers have to do things which might not play to the purist, but do ensure their survival - not least so that they can still pump out mental V12's with ridiculous styling. And Godspeed to them!

[Quickmoose]

The above is true to a point
But Lambo is owned by one of the largest car manufacturers ......in the woorrlldd....
They ain't going under....
Not like they and others have been threatened with in days gone by...

[PhantomPH]

Surely the bottom line is that every car manufacturer is a business. And businesses like to make money. And they have identified that they can make MORE money by building a new product in a different sector.

As someone has already stated, Lamborghini started off building tractors. By branching out into a new sector and a new product, we have Lamborghini cars. Then they made another leap by essentially inventing the supercar (Miura).

Given that, you could argue that traditionally Lamborghini have a track record of moving into new market areas so this is entirely in keeping with their heritage.

Just because 'you' don't like something, does not render it somehow pointless or not worthwhile producing. Hell, I cannot for the life of me get my head around handbags costing £12k...but some do. Live and let live, I say.

[Quickmoose]

I think of a few brands that don’t subscribe to your idea of the bottom line....