650hp ‘world’s fastest SUV’ from Lambo aims to double sales, price $798k w/o COE, due in Singapore early 2018

– Price in Singapore $798k without COE, launch in second half of 2018
– New SUV based on Volkswagen Group MLB platform
– Twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, 650hp, 0-100km/h 3.6 seconds
– Top speed 305km/h makes it ‘the fastest SUV in the world’
– All-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, air suspension, active roll stabilisation, carbon ceramic brakes as standard
– Modern design draws from LM002 SUV of 1986
– Stiffest competition might come from the Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga

Bologna, Italy

Lamborghini has unveiled its long-awaited sport utility vehicle (SUV) the Urus, at its factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese today.

The Urus is what Lamborghini dubs a ‘super sport utility vehicle’. Currently the indicative Singapore pricing is $798,000 without COE, which puts it at the same price level as the Lamborghini Huracan LP 580-2, both cars are the least expensive models in the brand’s line-up. 

Deliveries are expected in Q2 or Q3 of 2018. CarBuyer understands that 40 units of the Urus have already been booked by Singaporean customers, which if true, would make the sales for the SUV alone already exceeding Lamborghini’s sales for 2015 (20 units)  and 2016 (15 units) combined. 

Under the skin is the Volkswagen Group MLB luxury car platform which debuted in the current Audi Q7 and already underpins two super-luxury SUVs, the Bentley Bentayga and the recently-launched Porsche Cayenne (read our review Cayenne/Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo here).

Lamborghini is of course no stranger to part-swapping, especially with its direct parent Audi – the Huracan sports coupe has a closely-related chassis and 5.2-litre V10 engine with the Audi R8.

But the Urus takes this technological base and pushes it to a predictably Lamborghini-esque extreme.

Also familiar is the 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, but its performance is at a higher level. The engine makes 650hp, compared to 550hp of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and 850Nm of torque.

That allows the car to hit 100km/h from zero in just 3.6 seconds and its top speed of 306km/h makes it the fastest production SUV in the world, according to Lamborghini.

Emissions figures are also equally immodest, at 12.7L/100km and 290g/km of CO2.  

It’s no small thing, at 5,112mm long, 1,638mm tall and 2,016mm wide, with a 3,003mm wheelbase. But the car packs almost every tech trick in the box to maximise cornering performance, and despite this, manages to weigh less than 2,200kg thanks to the extensive use of aluminium. The Urus thus claims a class-leading weight-to-power ratio of 3.38kg/hp.

Power from the engine is sent to a Haldex all wheel drive system with torque vectoring. Four-wheel steering (as seen on the Aventador) is standard, as are ceramic brakes and a hydraulic anti roll bar system. The suspension is an active, air system that continually adjusts itself to suit the driving conditions and modes. Wheel sizes range from 21 to 23-inches. 

There are separate programmes for street, sport, track, snow, sand, off-road, which are all accessible via the ‘Tamburo’ Lamborghini drive select system.

The interior is suitably over the top as well, with active instruments, a infotainment system and two large selector knobs. Watch our interior tour of the Urus here.  

From our preview of the car, there is decent legroom for passengers although it’s not limo generous. The extreme sloping roof line makes headroom limited –  our 1.73-metre height was nearing the roof liner already – though compared to normal Lamborghinis the ability to seat more than one person is already a godsend.  

The luggage compartment is decently large, expanding from 616-litres to 1,596-litres.

A three-seat bench is available, although the show floor cars depict a dedicated pair of rear seats with a passenger entertainment system.

Lamborghini is obviously on the same trajectory that Porsche and Bentley have taken. Porsche sold 237,778 cars in 2016, the vast majority of that being SUVs: 40 percent of that was the Macan and 30 percent the Cayenne.

Bentley saw 11,817 units sold in 2016, and 47 percent of those were from the Bentayga, the best-seller amongst its five-car model range. Parent company Audi makes 13 cars, four of them are SUVs, and they made up 651,965 units, or 34 percent, of its 1,899,588 car sales in 2016.

Luxury SUVs are currently the fastest growing and most competitive car segment in the world. Lamborghini expects to double its 2016 sales of 3,457 units worldwide, having expanded its factory floor space to twice its original size and hired an additional 400 permanent staff in preparation for Urus production.

No doubt Porsche and Bentley offer different spins on a luxury SUV, but they could also prove strongest contenders for SUV-customer dollar. Yet even without intra-group competition, there’s cars like the BMW X7 and Rolls-Royce Cullinan on the way to shake things up further in the spendy-SUV segment.

Ironically it’s Lamborghini that has the most visible history in SUVs: In 1986 it made the ridiculous LM002 4×4, which was the brand’s take on a Humvee or G-Wagen, powered by a 5.2-litre V12 engine.

Only 328 units were produced, since it was arguably a car that was produced 31-years too late – at the time not even the Porsche Cayenne Turbo existed, and the LM002 even predates the first AMG-powered G-Wagens, so the concept of the super-lux SUV didn’t even exist.