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2019 Lamborghini Urus Track Drive Review | The banshee from Sant'Agata

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The Lamborghini Urus is a strange beast. It's generally shaped like a modern Lamborghini, a thick wedge with knife-edged angles, but its four-door form brings a practicality that no previous Lamborghini could match. Not even the iconic LM002, a thinly veneered military vehicle more similar to the classic Steyr-Daimler-Puch Gelandewagen than the Urus, which is a crossover and fundamentally meant to appeal to a much broader audience. We flew to California at the height of snowbird season to drive this $200,000 SUV. We wanted to focus on the wonderful weather and Urus' abilities on the track rather than debating whether or not it truly is a product of Sant'Agata Bolognese. Models like this attract new customers to the brand, and the company expects the Urus to double sales. To succeed, it needs to have the sex appeal and performance to back up the Lamborghini name, not necessarily be a direct link to the Huracan or Avendator. There's a Volkswagen Group feel to the whole design, discernable even under the camouflage of hexagonal shapes. That's no surprise, as the Urus rides on the same platform as the Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga and Porsche Cayenne. The hardpoints can't change, and the sharp lines remind you more than a little of the Q8. And the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8's exhaust note betrays the Urus' German roots, too. The engine – again shared with other VW products – sounds beefy and mean, but doesn't sing quite the same sweet tune you expect from an Italian performance car, especially when your foot is nailed to the floor. The Urus' interior, too, has a distinct Audi aura. The leather is fantastic, especially in saddle brown like our main test vehicle, but the digital instrument cluster is lifted straight from Audi, as are the steering wheel, window and lock switches, infotainment system and more. It's mostly quality stuff, but it feels like pieces from a parts-bin when some of the touch points on a $200,000 SUV are the same as a $35,000 sedan. It's also a problem that the Porsche Cayenne and Bentley Bentayga don't have. The things Porsche and Bentley could change — gauges, switches, lock buttons and more — they did change. Those two feel like more distinct products and less like a different wrapper on the same candy bar. It feels like Lamborghini skimped on some of the details. Look, Audi makes great stuff, but it makes the Urus feel less special. But on the track, you move the Urus around like you're swinging a sledgehammer.

Weekly Recap: Lamborghini fires on all cylinders

Lamborghini added 192 technicians and specialists in 2014 as the Italian automaker expands under the ambitious growth strategy of parent company Volkswagen AG. The additional workers helped Lamborghini increase its sales 19 percent last year to 2,530 supercars, and further expansion is planned for this year. Lambo has added more than 500 people in the last four years, bringing its headcount to 1,175. "Lamborghini is undergoing a strong phase of growth in both sales and in terms of recruitment," CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement. "We invest significantly in our people ... in 2015 we plan to hire further." The supercar maker's solid performance last year came during a time of transition. Lambo sold off the final 265 Gallardos, which were the brand's best-selling models ever. Its 10-cylinder successor, the Huracan, immediately filled the void. It garnered 3,300 orders, and 1,137 of them were delivered in 2014. The other Lamborghini, the 12-cylinder Aventador, saw its sales increase 13 percent to 1,128 copies. The sales leap comes as Volkswagen drives sales expansion across its portfolio of brands. The German carmaker sold 10 million vehicles around the world for the first time last year. Though Lambo will never make supercars in great numbers, it is expected to contribute to VW's bottom line through its image and profitable sales. Look for further growth this year, and a Super Veloce version (shown above) of the Aventador has already been spotted during testing. Lamborghini has been working on a sport utility vehicle for years, though the company has never publicly approved the project. It also showed a hybrid, the Asterion, at last year's Paris Motor show, suggesting the automaker is considering an electric future. Other News and Notes GMC ponders Jeep Wrangler fighter GMC is considering adding a competitor to the Jeep Wrangler and has discussed the idea with its dealers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Details of the vehicle are unclear, but the report suggested the vehicle could have cues from General Motors' old Hummer brand. The move would broaden GMC's lineup of trucks and SUVs and attract new customers. GMC sold 501,853 vehicles in 2014, making it GM's second-best selling brand. GMC had more volume than Cadillac and Buick combined, though it's still well behind Chevrolet's tally of more than two million vehicles. The notion of a "Wrangler fighter" could be a moving target.

VW has received several tentative bids for Ducati

Italy's Benetton family is vying with motorbike firms and buyout funds for control of Italian motorcycle brand Ducati, which is being sold by Germany's Volkswagen, sources involved in the process told Reuters. Volkswagen, whose Audi division controls Ducati, has received several tentative bids with the Benetton family's investment vehicle Edizione Holding valuing the Monster motorbike maker at $1.2 billion, one of the sources said. As well as Edizione Holding, U.S. buyout fund Bain Capital, which owns a stake in Ski-Doo snowmobiles maker BRB, and two Indian motorbike firms, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Auto, have also bid for Ducati, the sources said. Indian carmaker Eicher controls Royal Enfield, a motorcycle brand established in 1893 which ranks as one of the oldest. Strategic bidders also include U.S. automotive firm Polaris Industries, which earlier this year said it would wind down its struggling Victory Motorcycle brand. A shortlist of bidders for a second stage of the auction could be selected as soon as Saturday, two of the sources said. Volkswagen adviser Evercore has a long list of bidders including private equity funds such as Ducati's previous owner Investindustrial, CVC Capital Partners, Advent and PAI, all hoping to outbid industry players, the sources said. If it gets to the second round, Edizione Holding could seek to form a consortium with a financial investor, two of the sources said, in a bid to secure control of Ducati, whose racers have won the Superbike world championship 14 times, with Carl Fogarty and Troy Bayliss its most successful riders. Audi, Edizione Holding, Investindustrial, Advent and PAI declined to comment, while the other interested groups were not immediately available for comment. PRICING CHALLENGES For some buyout funds, Ducati's valuation of up to $1.4 billion – which sources said is based on a multiple of more than 10 times its core earnings of roughly 100 million euros – is a tall order as they lack the synergies that some motorbike makers could achieve. But Investindustrial founder Andrea Bonomi, who sold Ducati to Audi for about 860 million euros in 2012, is serious about a comeback, one of the sources said. China's Loncin Motor was among a group of industry players that initially showed interest in Ducati, alongside Harley-Davidson. The latter has, however, decided against making a bid due to Ducati's price tag, while it could not be established if Loncin Motor had carried on bidding.