BEIJING MOTOR SHOW: Lamborghini Urus SUV mooted for production

You could be looking at the future of Lamborghini in one aggressive package that is predicted to nearly triple the supercar maker’s sales at a stroke.

Costing around the same as the Gallardo LP560-4, the Urus could be on sale as early as 2015 if the concept car gets the rave reviews Lamborghini is expecting to follow in the wake of its Beijing Auto Show debut.

The highly flexible SUV is planned to be the fastest-accelerating and best-handling soft roader in the luxury car world – a tall order in a world that already boasts Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo S and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG GL65 and G65 twin-turbo V12s.

Yet while the 11-month design exercise looks like an early success, Lamborghini is yet to give a hint about what it might stick beneath the big SUV’s bonnet to fling it to 100km/h in something around the four-second region.

Lamborghini’s R&D boss, Maurizio Reggiani, suggested the Urus — just under five metres long — would need “At least 600 horsepower” to achieve its goals. That’s around 450kW, which is precisely what AMG’s biturbo 6.0-litre V12 already produces in the G65 and will produce in the GL65.

Yet while one of those German machines will trundle around in a 33-year-old chassis and the other on a rebodied version of its predecessor’s chassis, a production version of the Urus would sit on far fresher underpinnings and would be built to be driven every day.

While details are still sketchy, the four-seat concept car is 4999mm long, 1996mm wide, just 1660mm high and totes a 2895mm wheelbase. It carries the Aventador’s braking system in concept form, too, and sits on bespoke wheels and enormous Pirelli Scorpion Zero 305/35 ZR24 tyres, which are actually a production item for the U.S. after-market.

Though it can theoretically carry five people, Lamborghini would prefer to keep it a four-seater and, despite its low-looking roofline, Reggiani insisted a 192cm-tall design team member sat in the rear with 31cm of clearance over his head.

It is also planned to give the Urus permanent all-wheel drive, though its days are so early that Lamborghini isn’t even talking about what gearbox it might use, though it’s unlikely to be either of its existing cog-swappers.

For an in-depth look at the new Lamborghini Urus, check out our exclusive

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