Lamborghini has said that it will not venture into producing the Urus SUV till 2017 and this was confirmed by CEO Stephen Winklemann during the launch of the Aventador Roadster recently. He said the SUV was not an immediate priority and would not happen till 2017, even with the approval of the board.
The Urus SUV (which looks like a Estoque on really large wheels) concept was unveiled at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show and is based on parent company Volkswagen’s MLB platform which will underpins the next generation Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg.
It has been fitted with permanent four-wheel drive and is powered by a 600bhp V8 engine, but the size of the engine has not been disclosed. We suspect it will be a small capacity mill with a turbocharger to comply with tightening emission norms. Lamborghini has used a significant amount of carbonfibre both inside and outside to make it 100kg lighter than what it would be if aluminium was used in the construction.
While this may seem like a revolutionary design from the Italian automaker, it is not their first attempt at making an SUV. Way before it began its sojourn with Volkswagen and Audi (1986 to be precise), Lamborghini launched the LM002. It was designed to be a military vehicle but spent most of its existence doing ‘peace duty’ as a luxury SUV.
Source: Autoexpress
