Lamborghini Urus: Twin Turbo V8 & 2000kg

Lamborghini Urus to get twin turbo V8

Lamborghini’s R&D Directror, Maurizio Reggiani, says the Lamborghini Urus will use a twin turbo V8 and weigh only 2,000kg.

The Lamborghini Urus – Lambo’s new SUV offering – took the stage at the Geneva Motor Show in March and, although it received mixed reviews, is certainly heading for production.

But the SUV we saw at Geneva is a long way of the real deal; nothing more than a shell to give the world a peek of how the Urus will look. What goes on under the skin is a long way from sorted.

But we now know, from Lamborghini’s R&D boss Maurizio Reggiani, that the brief is clear: to make the Urus the best performing and lightest vehicle in its sector.

It will be underpinned by the PL73 platform – VW’s new large SUV platform that will also see service in the Bentley SUV and next generation Q7, Cayenne and Touareg – which is a steel platform that will allow the use of a forged carbon composite structure from the central tunnel to the rear suspension and weight saving with CFRP seat shells and aluminium bonnet, tailgate and doors to help hit target weight of 2,000kg.

Under the bonnet will almost certainly be the new, twin turbo V8 developed by Audi and Bentley and delivering around 600bhp. Although Reggiani says the V8 option is not signed off, it’s clear this is the route Lamborghini will go.

Using the V8 instead of Lamborghini’s V10 would mean a shorter engine allowing Lamborghini to mount the engine behind the front axle for better weight distribution and offer improved torque at low reves – much more important than peak power in an SUV.

But all this is some way off – Maurizio Reggiani says the Lamborghini Urus won’t see the light of day until at least 2017. But when it does arrive Lamborghini are expecting the Urus to sell 3,00 a year which, if that happens, will see current sales almost tripling.

Sales – at a price we expect to be around £150k – would be split 45 per cent in the Americas, 30 per cent in China and the Middle East and 25 per cent in Europe.

Lamborghini are expecting the official green light for the Urus by the end of the year. But it seems a done deal.