Lamborghini’s first crossover – not counting the 4×4-ish LM002, the Urus, is on its way to becoming a reality, with a prototype of the production model spied during a test run in Europe.
This is the second time in less than 24 hours that we’ve caught up with an Urus tester, following a rear shot of the high-performance crossover in Denmark on Thursday.
By combining these photos, we get a pretty good idea of what the production Urus will look like and it’s pretty darn close to the original Urus Concept from the 2012 Beijing auto show, maintaining its dramatic angular lines almost intact.
While wrapped in camouflage, we can see that the differences over the study are more on the trivial side, and include things like the use of regular door mirrors instead of cameras, the repositioning of the quad exhaust pipes, re-profiled bumpers with different vents and updated lights.
The Italian sports crossover will share its building blocks with the VW Group’s higher-end SUVs, including the platform underpinning the Audi Q7, Bentley Bentayga and the next Porsche Cayenne, and a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine.
Aside from being Lamborghini’s first turbocharged car, the Urus will also be the first to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain, as confirmed by the Sant’Agata firm’s CEO, Stefano Domenicali, in a recent interview with Digital Trends.
“I think for sure hybrids will be a part of Lamborghini,” he said. “We expect our first hybrid will be the second variant of the Urus to hit the market. It’s clear that hybridization will come through the SUV.”
In the same interview, the Lamborghini boss said that “Production will start in April, though the plant will initially build pre-series models. As you know, this is an entirely new process so the first few cars will be prototypes”.
We could see the production model making its world premiere as early as this spring at the Shanghai Auto Show, with sales to kick off either towards the end of the year or in early 2018.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops
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