2019 Lamborghini Urus Sport Utility 4d on 2040-cars

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Autoblog Minute: Why Lamborghini approved the Urus SUV

Lamborghini looks to double its vehicle sales and workforce with the addition of the Urus luxury SUV. Autoblog's Mylencia Gillenwaters reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute, with commentary from Michael Austin. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Lamborghini looks to double its vehicle sales and workforce with the addition of the Urus luxury SUV. I'm Mylencia Gillenwaters and this is your Autoblog Minute. Lamborghini is the latest luxury sports car manufacturer to join the SUV game. Development of the Urus will see the Italian automaker make 500 new hires and build a new facility near its headquarters in Bologna, Italy. Lamborghini expects the Urus to [00:00:30] have a dramatic effect on annual sales, with a projected increase of 2,500 vehicles to 5,000 annually. The Italian automaker pushed hard for parent company Volkswagen AG to allow it to develop this important new model internally. For more, we go to Autoblog editor-in-chief, Mike Austin. [00:01:00] [MICHAEL AUSTIN INTERVIEW] With IHS Automotive reporting the sport utility segment up 88 percent since 2008, and high-end competitors like Bentley entering the fray, we'll see if Lamborghini's timing pays off or if families in need of blinding grocery hauling speed will shop elsewhere. For Autoblog, I'm Mylecnia Gillenwaters. [00:01:30] [Autoblog Minute logo] Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals.

The ultimate Lamborghini Miura is for sale

There's no such thing as an ugly Lamborghini Miura, but the one currently for sale by Bingo Sports in Japan is something truly special. Starting life as a 1968 example, German Lambo importer Herbert Hahne had this beauty converted into a custom Jota SVR. The authentic Lamborghini Miura Jota started as a project to take the company's supercar racing, and the one-off featured a plethora of upgrades, including lower weight, aero adjustments like fixed headlights, extra power, and much more. The car met an untimely end when its wealthy owner had a crash in Italy. However, a few Miura owners wanted one, as well, and the factory did a handful of conversions to create examples that are incredibly valuable today. According to Bingo Sports' listing, Hahne's car is something a bit different. He had a '68 Miura transformed with this shapely body in 1975. The design now sports incredibly wide rear fenders to fit some serious tires at the back. He also had a rear spoiler added to the engine cover that placed the wing right on top of the roof when closed. The interior was also refitted with some comfy leather-covered Recaro seats and a Blaupunkt stereo. Within about a year of the custom work, the Miura made its way to Japan. The supercar has lived there ever since, and a three-year restoration was reportedly just completed. That's not too hard to believe because the photos show every surface of this unique supercar as practically immaculate. There's no price listed on this beauty, but we did inquire with Bingo and will update this post if and when we hear back. Related Video:

2020 Lamborghini Urus Road Test | How many bags of steer manure can it haul?

The question posed in the headline probably got your attention, as a headline should. You might also be wondering how many wet, muddy golden retrievers the 2020 Lamborghini Urus can carry home from a swim. Or how many seat-kicking Girl Scouts will drop their ice cream cones as you fling them around in your Urus on their way to a field trip. Or how many board-feet you can load while on a Lamborghini lumber run to Home Depot. And the answer to all of the above is: Beats me. If you think I tried any of that in a car with a $200,000 base price — $270,000 as tested — then youÂ’d be almost as nuts as me if I had. Most of those activities were probably specifically forbidden in the fine print of the 18-page loan agreement anyway. Yes, the Lamborghini Urus is an SUV. (ItÂ’s pronounced “Ooh-rous,” by the way.) No, it is not that kind of SUV, the kind that has “utility” as its middle name. Nobody who buys this is going to get it anywhere close to fertilizer, mud, ice cream or splinters. Nobody is cross-shopping the Urus against a Highlander or Explorer. It is, instead, an extreme expression of the quest for more power, more luxury, and the craze for crossovers. Auto brands, as they are wont to do, are building the high-riding vehicles that people want, which happen to be vastly profitable. Ne plus ultra brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini are not immune to that lure, and so they are now offering SUVs with arch luxury, uber performance and the most hoity brand cachet. Just wait until the Ferrari Purosangue hits the streets. And sure enough, the SUV formula works for the high rollers, too. Lamborghini sold more than 8,200 vehicles worldwide last year, an annual increase of 43%. And thatÂ’s because 5,000 of them were the Urus. The window sticker says 70% of the carÂ’s content is from Germany — put another way, itÂ’s mostly an Audi. But the 30% that is Lamborghini is what makes its base price nearly three times the $68,200 base price of the mechanically related Audi Q8.  When the opportunity arose to drive a Urus for a weekend, I puzzled over what exactly to do with it. With more lowly SUVs or trucks in the press fleet, auto writers typically load and haul their families and stuff to see how well the utility vehicle in question does its job in everyday life. But thatÂ’s not possible with the Urus. You canÂ’t in good conscience get the thing dirty, or risk a scuff or scratch.