Exotic automaker Lamborghini seems to be chugging along nicely, maintaining their two car system with the Gallardo-replacing Huracan and now moving things forward in this V12 segment with the recently announced Aventador Superveloce. It’s a system that seems to have been quite successful, but it’s starting to feel like current demands might move them to introduce a third vehicle, the much hyped Urus SUV.
This isn’t really news. Lamborghini have themselves been saying something similar for quite some time, further exploring the possibility of just what that third car would be with a number of concept reveals. Each of these have explored the notion of something foreign to the Italian automaker, such as a hybrid power train or four doors, and indeed all of these might end up in the SUV that is said to be going into production by 2017.
In an interview with Road & Track, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann expressed what he believed would be necessary for a third vehicle to join its ranks. According to him, if the innovation doesn’t bring performance, than it’s not something that the brand would move forward with. While they haven’t settled on specifics, once the final version of the SUV is given the green light, its then a matter of deciding if it would get a downsized turbo engine, a hybrid system, or be saddled with a usual naturally aspirated beast of an engine, though the least likely of the three.
When asked why bother to make an SUV in the first place, it’s because they see luxury SUV’s as a growing segment. Bentley’s Bentayga and Rolls Royce’s yet unnamed future SUV certainly support that analysis.
The Urus would of course have all-wheel drive, as this is a selling point of the company’s cars since they’ve begun implementing it in the early 90’s. Although vague, Winkelmann’s statements give us at the very least a little insight as to what’s going on behind the scenes and what to expect when the Urus barrels off the production line.
