High-end and luxury SUV’s have been so popular in recent years, that they are practically outselling all other classes of automobiles. North Americans, Europeans, and Asians can’t get enough of Range Rovers and Mercedes G-Wagons, so many companies are looking to launch their own high-end SUV. Well it now looks like Lamborghini will be entering into the race, as they have officially confirmed that they will be producing an SUV in 2018.
Back in 2012, Lamborghini unveiled a concept SUV at the Beijing Auto Show called the Urus. People weren’t quite sure what to make of it, and many thought that it would just be a unique one-off. However that is not the case as Lamborghini have recently made a press announcement that the Urus (or a version extremely similar) will head into production. Lamborghini plans on expanding their plant in Sant’Agata near Bologna to accommodate the demand. Apparently Lamborghini will create 500 new jobs in Italy, as then plan to produce around 3,000 of these SUV’s each year. While that may sound like not that much, that number is larger than the combined output of all their other vehicles produced last year.
While not all of the details are fully revealed at this time as to what exactly this super-SUV will be like, since it will be either exactly like the Urus or very similar, we can get a pretty good idea. The Urus concept (seen in the provided pictures) borrows the platform seen on the Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne, but that’s where the similarities end. The Urus featured extensive use of carbon fiber and had a composite backbone that made the vehicle extremely lightweight. Under the hood the Urus had a turbocharged 5.2-liter V10 engine that was produced by Audi (Audi and Lamborghini are both owned by the Volkswagen Group) that pumped out 582bhp. The vehicle was 16-feet long, it could achieve a top speed of 205mph, and it can comfortably sit four people. Now for the production version, Lamborghini might change some of these details, however there’s a very strong chance that the 2018 model will be either the same as the Urus or extremely similar.
There’s no information out there as to how much the Lamborghini SUV will cost, but given it’s potential specs and the fact that it’s a Lambo, I would imagine it to be somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000 dollars. It certainly seems like a promising vehicle for anyone looking to purchase the highest performing and most expensive SUV around, however I have one problem with the vehicle: its looks. Sure it doesn’t look bad or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a Lamborghini. Lamborghinis are supposed to be the very definition of supercars; they’re supposed to look absolutely insane and mad. Lamborghinis have always looked like they had been outfitted with lasers and rocket launchers. Look at the Aventador or the Sesto Elemento, those cars are just absurd looking in all the right ways. The Urus? Well, not so much. But that’s just my option. Regardless of what I think, I do look forward to seeing the production version hit the streets sometime in 2018.
Photos from Car and Driver
