[Lamborghini News] After a great deal of speculation and bureaucratic wrangling, the top brass at Lamborghini’s parent company, Audi, has decided to give the controversial Urus SUV the green light for production.
Audi chief Rupert Statler made the announcement at Lamborghini’s recent anniversary tour. According to Statler, the production-spec Urus will emerge during the course of 2017.
The Urus was first unveiled at last year’s Beijing Motor Show in a bid to gauge public reaction to the idea of the Sant’Agata firm going the SUV route. Seen more as an SUV placing sporty dynamics at the forefront, as opposed to its military-spec LM001 ancestor, the Urus concept featured a 440 kW engine coupled with a dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Although Lamborghini has not yet divulged any details regarding the powerplant line-up, a tentative output figure of around 447 kW has been mentioned as has the possibility that it could be provided by a plug-in hybrid version of the 4,0-litre twin-turbo V8 currently doing service in Audi’s S6 and S7 models. The powerplant is likely to be coupled with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with drive being channelled to all four corners via a torque apportioning all-wheel drive system with a rear-wheel bias. Lamborghini has already made the lofty claim that the production Urus will be the fastest-accelerating SUV on the market – potentially giving it a 0-100 time of around 4,5 seconds and a top speed in the region of 300 km/h.
As controversial as it may seem, the concept of Lamborghini adding an SUV to its product range has to be viewed in the context of such premium players as Porsche, and most likely Bentley, tapping into this market. In Porsche’s case, the Cayenne has been exceptionally well received and forms the backbone of the firm’s overall sales.
