Lamborghini URUS – the FX70 killer

Perhaps the Lamborghini Concept by Active Design points the way for the new Lamborghini Urus?

Lamborghini are planning a new halo car – the Lamborghini Urus – to be based on the Murcielago’s replacement, the Jota. Designed to take on the new Enzo – the FX70.

Lamborghini has been long on new models – for a high-end supercar maker – but short on new cars for quite some time. Sure, we’ve had evolutions of the Gallardo in to the LP560 and the Murcielago in to the LP640 and it’s siblings. And Lamborghini have  been milking ‘Specials’ for all they’re worth, with cars like the Reventon Coupe and Reventon Roadster (which Cars UK exclusively revealed in March) – desirable though they may be – being just inflated version of a standard car. Let’s face it, the LP670-4 SV – which is in itself a Limited Edition Murcielago – offers more performance and drama for a third of the price of the Reventon.

But things are going to start changing at Lamborghini as the Murcielago makes way for the all-new Jota in the next year. The Jota will get a carbon fibre chassis with carbon fibre and aluminium body and be a bit longer than the Murci (as long as it’s not wider – the Murci is a pig in traffic). It will get an all-new 6.0 litre V12 with direct injection which should be good for over 700bhp.

This information has been around for a while, and although the details may not be exact we’re pretty sure they’re very close. But now a source close to Lamborghini is telling us that there will be a car above the new Jota – the Lamborghini Urus. Now you may remember that  the Lamborghini Estoque was initially expected to be known as the Urus. But it wasn’t, so we’d sort of forgotton about the Urus monicker. But our sources are telling us that the Urus is very much alive and well and buried in the heart of Lambo’s development plans.

It would appear that Lamborghini are planning on making the Urus a Ferrari FX70 beater (the FX70 is Ferrari’s new Enzo). Based on a modified Jota chassis, the Urus will have every component re-worked to make it as light and dynamic as possible. It will feature a full carbon fibre body and have active aerodynamics. The re-worked Jota V12 is expected to get very close to 800bhp, which will give the Urus a sub 3.0 second 0-60mph – Veyron territory.

But we’ll probably not see the Urus until at least 2011, and it probably won’t hit the roads until 2012, although the Jota is likely to arrive late in 2010.