Lp 700-4 Coupe, Grigio Telesto/nero Ade, Well Option'd, Exceptionally Clean. on 2040-cars

Auto blog

What Lamborghini Urus' unapologetic unveiling tells us about the super SUV

BOLOGNA, Italy — "Like a storm at a wedding," was Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's diplomatically lyrical description of the 'problemo tecnico' that plunged the Lamborghini Urus production line into an awkward silence just as the build-up to the car's unveiling was reaching a crescendo. Given the scale of the event, the hundreds of media, customers and VIPs flown in, the preparation of the new production line for a gala dinner and all the rest of the glitz and glamour, this must have been an excruciatingly embarrassing moment for Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali. If it was, he didn't show it, gamely jumping into the middle of the unlit arena with the microphone and stalling for time as two examples of the Urus were whisked around from the adjacent production line, brought hurriedly before the waiting crowd and then thrown into the spotlight for R&D boss Maurizio Reggiani to do his thing. All of this proves that flying all the way to Bologna to attend an unveiling event in person is the last place you want to be if you want the scoop on a new Lamborghini, the vital information on the car already live and online while we folks in the factory were — literally — in the dark. You'll have already read the headlines, gasped at the horror of a turbocharged Lamborghini and then again in amazement at the performance stats the 641-bhp 4.0-liter V8 delivers. 0-62 mph in just 3.6 seconds is but a few tenths off what a Huracan achieves, 0-124 mph in 12.8 seconds putting the Urus into the seriously fast league for any type of car, let alone an SUV. The shock value of the looks has been tempered somewhat by the fact that concepts, test mules and drawings have been in the public domain for a long, long time. We've gotten used to the idea of a Lamborghini SUV, and the design theme of an Aventador on stilts was long-previewed. But what's it like in the metal? Unapologetic would be one word that springs to mind. But then that's the Lamborghini way, right? This is not — never has been — a brand for wallflowers. Even with that in mind, the Urus is a middle finger raised to anyone concerned about brand values being cheapened by the fact it shares platform, engine and electrical architecture with similar products from Audi, Bentley and Porsche. You'll have your own views there. You'll also realize why Lamborghini had to do it and, perhaps, wonder why it took so long.

Another Lamborghini Veneno for sale, this time for only $8m

There are some cars you expect to see coming up for sale often in the used car listings. Civics, RAV4s, F-150s... you know, the kind of car that they build by the thousand, build to sell, and build to last. More attention-grabbing for us, though, is when we see multiples of a rarer model coming up time and again in the same place. Like the Lamborghini Veneno, for example. The factory in Sant'Agata only made three of these coupes for public consumption, and each of them sold for about $4 million. So we were surprised when we saw one pop up on Mobile.de with a whopping $11 million price tag. But we were even more surprised to see another one for sale on the same site, just weeks later. Pictured with red details (instead of white like the last one), this example is listed as the first of the three made, with only 100 kilometers (62 miles) on the odometer. Its owner is asking ˆ7.1 million – equivalent to nearly $8 million at current exchange rates. That's about twice what Lamborghini charged in the first place, four times what it charged more recently for the new Centenario, and twenty times the price of the Aventador on which they're all based. But it's still a heck of a lot less than the $11 million asked for the last one. Of course, the seller can ask for however much he or she wants, but actually getting that price is quite another matter. Part of us gets the feeling that if someone were really that interested, the listings wouldn't still be up for weeks now. The other part is surprised some squillionaire somewhere in the world hasn't ponied up an even $20 million to take both home already. Related Video:

Lamborghini's first EV will be a sports car with usable rear seats

Lamborghini's first series-produced electric car will make its debut by the end of the 2020s. We know the EV will arrive as a fourth model line, not as a battery-powered version of an existing car, and the brand revealed some of the areas it's focusing on during the design phase. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann recently confirmed the yet-unnamed EV will arrive as a grand tourer with a 2+2 seating layout, so it will bring Lamborghini back to a segment it left many decades ago. Federico Foschini, the firm's chief marketing and sales officer, revealed that the rear seats won't be merely for show: He told Motor Authority that they'll be "comfortable." Reading between the lines suggests that the EV will fill the gap between Lamborghini's two-seater super-sports cars, such as the new Revuelto flagship, and the family-friendly Urus SUV. Foschini added that two adults will be able to travel in the EV's back seats. This is fairly rare in 2023: most of the 2+2s currently on sale, including the Porsche 911, have rear seats that are best left to small kids. One of the few exceptions is the new, second-generation Maserati GranTurismo, which is surprisingly spacious for its segment. The Bentley Continental GT is also big enough to accommodate four adults. It's too early to provide technical specifications because the EV isn't scheduled to land in showrooms until 2028 at the earliest. Regardless of what the model is powered by, Foschini noted that the development team is shooting for over 300 miles of range. "This is what you need, because it's a full electric vehicle. You have no alternative range," he told Motor Authority. Note that "over 300 miles" is the best-case scenario; the executive clarified that the total number will depend on the driving mode selected, which is also true for combustion engines. More details about Lamborghini's upcoming electric model will emerge in the coming months. In the meantime, the Italian brand is preparing to electrify its entire range by 2024. The first step on this path is the aforementioned Revuelto, which uses a gasoline-electric hybrid system built around a new, 6.5-liter V12 engine. Next is the successor to the Huracan, which will reportedly use plug-in hybrid technology as well.