Lamborghini Urus SUV Will Be Company's First Plug-In Hybrid: Report
Left is up, backwards is starboard, and nothing makes sense to me anymore because apparently the Lamborghini Urus SUV is not only still coming to life, but it's going to be available as a plug-in hybrid.
AutoCar is claiming that Maurizio Reggiani, R&D Director at Lamborghini, has said the Urus SUV will be the only vehicle in the brand's lineup to be turbocharged or an electric hybrid. (That's two separate configurations.)
I asked Lamborghini's PR agency about the validity of these rumors yesterday and they didn't have the answer, but have promised to "ask Italy" for us. The rest of the internet is running with AutoCar's report but I would advise treating it with some skepticism until we get a direct confirmation.
"The design [of the Urus] is pure Lamborghini," AutoCar quotes Reggiani. "It has evolved considerably since the [2012?] concept and the finished car is much better inside and out." He apparently added that "turbocharging will be 'completely mandatory...' because as an SUV it needs huge torque." Not that any Lamborghini has ever had anything less than "huge" anything.
AutoCar didn't publish a specific quote about a plug-in hybrid from Reggaini, just that "he said it." Hence my raised eyebrow. But the idea makes sense, especially as AutoBlog reminds us that former Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann called the Urus "the logical place for it to launch" referring to a Lamborghini hybrid line.
That line about "turbocharging" is apparently referring to the 4.0-liter twin-turbo Porsche V8 engine that Volkswagen, which owns both Porsche and Lamborghini, is planning to put in other high-performance vehicles.
That'd be interesting, since Lamborghini has been staunchly anti-turbo since forever, but not nearly as monocle-shattering as the idea of a Lamborghini freaking hybrid SUV.
Of course "hybrid" equating exclusively to "slothmobile covered in leftie bumper stickers" is an archaic notion, immolated by the Porsche 918, Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1. But somehow I still find the concept a little comical.
Reggiani's line about the design changing from the concept art we have here is encouraging too, but of course unsurprising. The Urus idea bowed in 2012 and now it looks like it belongs on a Trapper Keeper or a vintage arcade game. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing?
Sounds like we're not going to get an off-roady "LM002" successor, but the Urus might end up being a pretty interesting car. Er, SUV.