Lamborghini Expect Urus to be Record-breaking Model

The planned SUV from Lamborghini is prophesised to take their sales into overdrive.  The Italian supercar manufacturer expects that the Urus will be their best-selling model ever.

High hopes are pinned on the Urus from Lamborghini.  Firstly, fans expect an exceptionally-thrilling drive as par for the course when it comes to this legendary supercar.  The company also expect not only to encapsulate the essence of the brand in this first foray into a crossover vehicle platform, but that the Urus will be their top-selling model ever. 

With global sales of the existing Gallardo and the revolutionary Aventador reaching 1 600 units last year, the projected 3000-unit strong sales of the Urus will by far outstrip all previous sales records. 

Whilst the Urus is still in concept stage, it is seen by many as a conclusive pre-production model so far.  Readying for production is still some way off however, and development continues behind the scenes.  What Lamborghini have disclosed however is that they anticipate selling three thousand of the vehicles every year once launched. 

The way they intend to capture such a slice of that competitive market was recently uncovered in an interview with their top engineer.  Their Research and Development Director, Maurizio Reggiani, recently announce that ‘we were given a very challenging target; to make the production Urus the best-performing and lightest vehicle in its category’.  Whilst they are not disclosing any trade secrets at this stage, he continued that ‘as the unibody structure of the PL73 is made of steel, we need to think of innovative solutions so we can meet the very challenging weight target we were given’.  They need to keep the eventual weight of the car under two thousand kilograms, which means that it will be two hundred kilograms lighter than any competitor on the road right now.  Solutions to tackle this could include using an aluminium-magnesium composite in the bonnet, boot and doors, a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic for the seat shell, and a T-shaped, forged-carbon composite structure.

Power could very well come from a twin-turbo petrol V8 that Reggiani hinted at.  He explained that the evolutionary Lamborghini ‘needs huge torque at low revolutions rather than high peak power, therefore a V-8 twin-turbo is an interesting possibility’.  Whatever is his team’s final solution, it should also play into optimising the power-weight ratio, in order to meet their aggressive overall weight target.

Go-ahead should be received by the team by the end of this year, with development time and cost diminished with the use of parent company Volkswagen AG’s latest platform, the PL73.  This is the same foundation shared by the next generation of

Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne, and VW Touareg.  When the concept Bentley EXP 9 F becomes a reality in the years to come it will also benefit from such research and technology.