Lamborghini unleashes 478kW Urus SUV

Lamborghini has unveiled the Urus SUV at a VIP event in Italy.

A ground-breaker in many ways for the famous Italian sports car maker, it’s the first Lamborghini to ever officially sport a turbocharger and it’s definitely the first to wear a torque-converter automatic transmission.

But one thing it isn’t is Lamborghini’s first SUV.

There is a rock-solid piece of SUV heritage lurking in Lamborghini history, with the 1980s LM002 giving the Urus automatic legitimacy despite the brand’s sports car focus. Its equine-badged near neighbours are about to embark on an exceptionally convoluted piece of SUV justification by comparison.

Lamborghini has prepared long and hard for this car, the most extreme piece of engineering yet to come off the Volkswagen Group’s MLB Evo architecture that also plays host to the Audi Q7, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne and (whisper it) Audi A4.

It has prepared so hard that it has basically doubled the plant capacity at Sant’Agata Bolognese because it assumes its first SUV to be sold in China will at least double its annual run rate of around 2000 cars a year.

That’s going to be a good earn for Lamborghini, with its initial pricing set at $US200,000 or, in its Italian home market, €168,852 ($A263,500) plus taxes.

On paper, it’s impressive. The biturbo V8 pumps out 850Nm of torque and 478kW of power. By comparison, the just-launched Porsche Panamera Turbo S e-Hybrid Sport Turismo uses the core of this same V8 and still has to couple it to a 400Nm electric motor to reach the exact same torque peak the Urus stretches to on just petrol power alone.

It’s good enough to throw the 2200kg Urus to 100km/h in 3.6 seconds, on to 200km/h in another 9.2 seconds and up to 305km/h. Which would be a scary thing in a 2.2-tonne SUV were it not for the biggest set of front brakes in current automotive production.

At 440x40mm, the carbon-ceramic front discs are squished by 10-piston monobloc callipers, while the rear-end’s 370x30mm carbon discs have six pistons of their own. Lamborghini claims they can haul the Urus down from 100km/h to zero in only 33.7 metres.

We’ve seen variations on this V8 engine before, because its core layout sits inside the Audi S 6, RS 6, S 7, RS 7 and S8, plus Porsche’s Panamera and Cayenne Turbo and Turbo S models.

But we’ve never seen it quite this stressed. It reaches its 850Nm torque peak at just 2250rpm then holds that output until it fades at 4500rpm. By then, the two twin-scroll turbochargers are screaming hard, helping it to punch up to its power peak at 6000rpm, then to keep revving out to 6800rpm.

Besides that, it has variable valve timing and lift, and also scores cylinder-on-demand technology to shut down up to four cylinders when they’re not needed, helping to pull its NEDC figure down to 12.7L/100km and 290g/km of CO2.

Lamborghini’s first automatic transmission is an eight-speed unit with five shortened early gears, a direct-drive sixth and two longer gears for lowered highway-speed noise and reduced fuel consumption.

It’s also had its torque converter tightened up for snappier upshifts, while its drive is sent out through a Torsen mechanical torque-sensing centre differential. While it prefers to send 60 per cent of its torque to the rear-end as a default split, it can shift up to 70 per cent to the front or 87 per cent to the rear, depending on the grip demands from the torque-vectoring system.

It’s all tied down with a five-link front-end that’s been heavily modified to suit the Urus’s unique working brief, scoring things like a unique aluminium subframe, new pivot bearings and new wishbones.

The rear-end also uses a five-link suspension layout, but swings in Lamborghini’s variation on the electro-mechanical roll-stabilisation system that debuted on Audi’s SQ7 and is also now fitted to the top end of the Porsche Cayenne and Panamera ranges.

The V8 itself sits up front, though not behind the front axle line, and uses active engine mounts to both counter the weighty motor’s influence on yaw rates and to minimise the vibration and harshness entering the cabin.

Lamborghini claims proper off-road ability from its 5112mm-long SUV, with its modes switchable via what it calls the Tamburo. It’s yet to be determined if Lamborghini will stick to the Italian naming system it uses for the switches, but for now words like Strada (street), Sabbia (sand), Terra (earth), Neve (snow), Sport (err, Sport) and Corsa (track) add a romance to the big rig.

There’s more, though, with the settings also allowing for extra modes, like Anima (spirit) and Ego (self), with the last one allowing people to customise their drive settings. The Sabbia and Terra functions are only available in an optional off-road pack, which also adds underfloor protection and metal-reinforced bumpers.

Its ride height can switch from 158mm for high-speed highway or track work, to as much as 248mm for off-road work in the Sabbia and Terra modes.

Governing it all are three-chamber air springs all round, with continuously adjusting active dampers managing them and three degrees of rear-wheel steering that effectively shortens the 3003mm wheelbase by 600mm in corners.

That rear steer doesn’t sound like much but it pulls the 2016mm-wide Urus’s turning circle down to 11.8 metres, with the steering swinging around in just 2.25 turns lock-to-lock.

The 1638mm-high is comfortably the most practical Lamborghini ever put into production, with 616 litres of luggage space that can be boosted to 1596mm with the rear seats folded flat. There is a standard five-seat rear layout, but a two-seat version is optional.

It drains from an 85-litre fuel tank, too, and runs on Pirelli P Zero front tyres that range from 285/45 R21 up to 285/35 R23 in size, and rear rubber that ranges from 315/40 R21 to 325/30 R23.

It also claims full Level 2 autonomy, thanks to active cruise control, lane keeping systems and autonomous braking.

Inside, it runs two full digital screens and drips in luxury, with multifunction buttons on the wheel organising the Lamborghini Infotainment System, which covers its media, navigation and entertainment systems.

The two screens are laid out one above the other in the centre of the dash, with the upper screen managing media, navigation, phone and car-status functions, while the lower one is set aside as a hand-writing pad and for running the climate-control and seat heating.

There’s an integrated phone compartment, wireless charging and voice control, USB connections, Bluetooth streaming and even a DVD player. So this is a Lamborghini, but not like one you’ve ever seen before.

Its smartphone interface caters for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and China’s Baidu-Carlife as a standard set-up, then drives its sound through up to 21 speakers.

There’s a 3D-style TFT instrument cluster, a head-up display and heated, 12-way adjustable front seats, though there’s an 18-way adjustment option.