Since going on sale in 2018, the Lamborghini Urus has been a great successor for the Italian sportscar company. Up to June this year, over 20,000 units have been delivered worldwide, making it Lamborghini’s bestselling model in the shortest time ever.
The impressive high performance of the Urus inspired Lamborghini to coin the term ‘Super SUV’ for its model. And in the four years that the Urus has been around, other carmakers like Aston Martin, Audi and BMW M have also launched their Super SUVs.
So Lamborghini has decided it’s time to update its original Super SUV with enhanced performance. The new Urus S replaces the standard Urus and gets the same performance level as the Urus Performante which debuted in August. However, where the Performante is performance-focussed, the Urus S is more oriented towards luxury.
In December 2019, just before the world was attacked by COVID-19, Lamborghini showed the Huracan Sterrato as a proposal for a super off-road machine. It was only a concept then, based on the V10 Huracan which drew on off-road expertise developed with the Urus.
Now it appears that there is a running prototype in action although Lamborghini is not saying anything. All it has released is a video entitled ‘Beyond the Concrete’ which shows the Sterrato in action on very rough ground.
The video shows the supercar racing along a country road and then diverting off-road to race with a mountain bike up to a villa on a hill. There’s a lot of drama along the way as the 5.2-litre V10’s power tries to reach the ground with the chunky tyres.
The Sterrato is intended for rough and demanding environments and its appearance illustrates this. More ground clearance is necessary in rough terrain so 47 mm is added, with the car’s front approach sharpened by 1% and the departure angle enhanced by 6.5%.
The wheel track is enhanced front and rear by 30 mm, with 20-inch wheels on balloon tyres set into widebody wheelarches with integrated air intakes. The larger tyres have been specially developed with increased sidewalls to improve the absorption of bumps and also provide good grip.
When driving over rough terrain with rocks and loose stones, the underside is at risk of being damaged. To prevent this, the Sterrato is fitted with underbody reinforcements and body protection, including a rear skidplate that acts as a diffuser. Aluminium reinforcements are integrated within the front frame and covered with an aluminium skidplate, with aluminium-reinforced sideskirts.
We don’t know what exactly this video is meant to tell other than that another super SUV could be coming soon. It could be the last model in the Huracan line which was introduced in 2014, and certainly a wild way to finish off.
Since the 1990s, SUVs have grown in popularity phenomenally – to the extent that event at the topmost segment of the market, manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce have had to include such models in their range. And further evidence of the importance of this type of vehicle can be seen in how many carmakers have chosen it to be the first bodystyle for their new electric vehicles.
Even among supercar manufacturers, demands for SUVs is evident from their customers and an example can be seen in the Lamborghini Urus setting sales records. Labelled by the company as a ‘Super SUV’, the Urus has set the record of being its best-selling model in the shortest time ever. Since its market debut in 2018, 20,000 units have been produced, with the 20,000th unit being delivered to a customer in Azerbaijan.
“From the first moment we presented the Urus concept at Beijing motor show in 2012, to its market debut in 2018 and each year since, the Urus has proved its instant and continued appeal as a true Lamborghini, born from our super sports heritage and the world’s first Super SUV, the LM 002,” said Stephan Winkelman, Automobili Lamborghini Chairman & CEO. “The Urus is a perfect complement to our super sports model ranges, providing a luxurious and high-performance daily drive for those who identify with our authentic Italian brand.”
The overall growth in global sales has been impressive, reaching the record of 8,205 units delivered in 2019 – that was double the volumes achieved in the period before the Urus went on sale. From 2018 to the end of 2021, a total of 16,000 SUVs were delivered worldwide to 5 continents, with 85% of customers being new to the marque.
Catalyst for transformation
The Urus has been the catalyst for doubling company volumes and the size of the factory has gone from 80,000 to 160,000 square metres. To manufacture more efficiently, Lamborghini Manufacturing 4.0 was established as an innovative approach to production technologies to support assemblyline workers. In 2019, the Urus paintshop was inaugurated and since 2020, the Urus supply chain became more sustainable through replacing the Urus bodies’ transportation by truck with train, and the cut of CO2 emissions by 85%.
The environmental initiative followed the announcement of Lamborghini’s ‘Direzione Cor Tauri’ future global program, involving a complete switch to hybrid technologies by 2024 and the vision for a new fully-electric model in the second half of the decade. Cor Tauri starts from a holistic vision of the company’s sustainability strategy: a 360° approach that spans from the products to the entire factory site, from production lines to offices.
Adventures all over the world
Over the past 4 years that the model has been on sale, it is estimated that Urus owners around the world have covered more than 360 million kilometres in total. Where Lamborghinis were once only seen on highways, the Urus gives owners new adventures away from the highways. Besides many private journeys, events organised by Lamborghini have seen the SUV travel along the highest roads to the most extreme off-road environments. To prove that it can ‘Unlock any Road’, the Urus has set a new high-speed record for ice-driving on Russia’s Lake Baikal and going up the world’s highest driveable road (India’s Umling La pass at 5,884 metres).
Soul of a super sportscar, functionality of a SUV
The Urus continues to have a 4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine delivering 650 ps at 6,000 rpm and 850 Nm of torque at 2,250 rpm. With 162.7 ps/litre, it boasts of one of the highest specific power ratings in its class, as well as the best weight-to-power ratio of 3.38 kgs/ps. This enables it to go from standstill to 100 km/h in a claimed 3.6 seconds and reach 200 km/h in 12.8 seconds, after which it will top out at 305 km/h.
After paying so much for an Urus, it is to be expected that customers will spend a bit more to personalise their SUV. For this, Lamborghini has its Ad Personam services which offer special exterior colours as well as other exclusive options.
Lamborghini Squadra Corse, the carmaker’s motorsports division, looks ahead to the future with two world previews which were presented during the Super Trofeo World Finals in Jerez de la Frontera. A teaser foreshadowed the new 12-cylinder hypercar that will debut in 2020, while the Urus ST-X was taken to a circuit for the first time, driven by 9-time Motocross Champion Tony Cairoli.
Teaser of the Lamborghini hypercar
The Urus ST-X super sportscar developed by Squadra Corse and designed by the Centro Stile is a track-only machine with no plans for races. It will be produced as a limited edition, with aerodynamic and mechanical specifications designed to bring out the best of the iconic 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine that delivers 830 bhp.
Special features of the Urus ST-X
During the preview, it was possible to view a number of special features of the car such as the large rear wing, the airscoop on the roof, and the racing front bonnet with dual air intakes.
The structure is composed of an aluminium front frame joined to the carbonfibre monocoque, designed to guarantee the highest standards of safety. To house the engine, a steel rollcage was created that maximizes the torsional and bending stiffness characteristics.
The Urus ST-X is equipped with a twin-turbo V8 engine and has a lighter structure. The front features a carbonfibre bonnet with supplementary air intakes and the rear is characterized by the carbon wing and the racing exhausts.
The 6-speed sequential Xtrac transmission has a structural load-bearing function, with respect to the suspension compartment, the arms of which are directly connected to the gearbox, guaranteeing optimal kinematics and a significant improvement in the stiffness to weight ratio. The differential is an innovative mechanical self-locking type that allows the driver to adjust its preload dynamically to optimize driveability depending on the circuit and the conditions of the asphalt.
Lamborghini declares the Urus ST-X as the first Super SUV in the world of racing. The body is dominated by the Verde Mantis (green) colour typical of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, highlighted with red details; the cockpit, reinforced by a tubular roll-bar, features racing seats and a fire extinguishing system.
We just realised that we didn’t actually show the rear of the new 3rd generation Porsche Cayenne earlier, so here you go! Featured image of its backside, just for you. Also, we just opened up a whole bunch of really nice photos of the new 2019 Porsche Cayenne on a thumb-drive that somehow fell into another interstellar dimension of space and time for the past 24-hours, and just had to share them with you! Feast your eyes on these! Videos after the jump…
Also if you’d like to know ALL about the new 3rd Gen Cayenne, you can download this PDF, sharing is caring: The new Cayenne press information
Here’s the new Porsche Cayenne in action during its launch in Greece recently…
