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Lamborghini Urus to get twin-turbo V8

The Lamborghini Urus won't use one of the Italian supercar brand's familiar V10 or V12 engines upon its arrival around 2018, but will instead pack a Lambo-exclusive twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann and research chief Maurizio Reggiani confirmed the powerplant selection to Autocar, which verified earlier rumors. The choice of turbocharging rather than the brand's usual naturally aspirated mills comes returns lower carbon dioxide emissions and a greater breadth of torque from the powerband. Even if Urus owners never take the CUV off-road, Lamborghini's engineers want it to be possible. They feel that significant grunt at low revs is necessary for the vehicle to excel in the dirt, and the company only plans to offer the Urus with all-wheel drive. Winkelmann also promises the model to live up to the automaker's huge performance reputation. "This engine is not used by anybody else, only for Lamborghini. To be the most powerful in the class it must have something that is dedicated to our brand," he said to Autocar. For buyers looking for even more exclusivity from their Lamborghini crossover, the company could offer multiple variations of the Urus after the initial launch. Winkelmann re-confirmed to Autocar that both a plug-in hybrid version and high-performance Superveloce are under consideration; there also could be a luxury-focused edition. The company hasn't signed off on any of these yet, though. Lamborghini will build the Urus in a new factory near its headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese, and the brand will hope to deliver around 3,000 of them annually. Expect the final model to look like an evolved version of the earlier concept. Autocar claims prices for the UK market similar to the Aventador, which starts at around $400,000 in the US. Related Video:

Lambo Urus to stay true to concept, but almost didn't happen

Lamborghini has been making noise about adding a third model line for years, and it's finally going to happen now that the Urus concept has been approved for production. It'll likely be a while yet before all the details are sorted out and revealed to the public, but while visiting the factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Autoblog was able to glean some intriguing details about the Italian automaker's forthcoming crossover and its path it is taking from concept to production. "It's good to have heritage, but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint." - Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann We first saw the Urus concept back in 2012, and Lamborghini has been lobbying its parent company Volkswagen ever since for the go-ahead to put it into production. Now three years later, it finally has the green light. A company representative told Autoblog the production version looks "very" close to the concept. (No ground-up redesign here, then, like sister-brand Bentley did with its inaugural crossover project.) Speaking with a small group of journalists in Sant'Agata, the company's chief executive Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that "the SUV could be the [company's] first car with a turbo, and it could be the first car with a plug-in, if we have the opportunity to have more than one engine." The Urus (or however it's ultimately labeled for production) will also be decidedly geared towards on-road performance – unlike the Rambo Lambo on display in the museum next door. "It's good to have heritage," said Winkelmann, "but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint" for the new model. As to the question of why it has taken three years to get approval, and why it will take another three to put it into production, Winkelmann was frank: "Basically if you look at our numbers, we are a company which is growing at a fast pace, but we are very small," said the affable executive. "We had to find a way to almost double our efforts, because it's not the exchange of a model line, with the Gallardo and Huracan, it's adding a model line. And not out of 20 to come to 21 models, but from two to three is a major effort, and you have to have a rock-solid business case." "Putting 500 more people inside a company which is now at 1,200, you can imagine what it means. Doubling almost the size of the area here where we are sitting today. Investing hundreds and hundreds of millions.

Lamborghini teases engine sound, but of Sesto Elemento or Cabrera?

Lamborghini has launched a website for something it calls the Hexagon Project. The mysterious page asks that you submit your email address, and then it gives you a taste of glorious V10 engine noise, with the message: "Listen to your instinct. Discover the roar of a new creature from Lamborghini. That will be just the beginning."
But where is that wonderful noise going to come from? Since we don't see Lambo launching a front-engined, front-drive minivan in the near future, we're guessing it'll be found in the back of some low-slung, edgy super car.
In our minds, that leaves two candidates. The popular opinion, perpetuated by our friends at Jalopnik, is that this is the engine for Lambo's Gallardo replacement, rumored to be called the Cabrera. This is a sound guess, although the naming of the site, Hexagon Project, makes us think that there's more to it all than just the Cabrera's new engine.