On top of all the massive expectations people already have for the Lamborghini Urus, there’s a lot more to the vehicle than just being the second ever SUV to come from the Italian automaker and the first Lamborghini to use a turbocharged engine. There’s a new report from Car Advice that indicates that the Urus will also be the first Lamborghini to adopt a plug-in hybrid powertrain. No less than the company’s research and development boss, Maurizio Reggiani, dropped the news about the automaker’s plans for its SUV, explaining that a “PHEV system is currently ideal for packaging in an SUV platform.”
Reggiani didn’t dive into the specifics of how Lamborghini plans to accommodate a PHEV system into the Urus but it goes without saying that the current climate of the auto industry has had a lot to do with this shift in ideology. There once was a point in time when the Italian automaker held strong on its belief to keep using naturally-aspirated V-12 engines and let everybody else trip over themselves with the rampant use of turbochargers and hybrids. But now that most automakers are beginning to venture into their own new territories with alternative engines, Lamborghini needs to join the party or risk getting left behind.
That said, don’t expect Lamborghini to go trigger-happy with hybrids just yet. A PHEV makes sense for the Lamborghini Urus by virtue of the SUV being packaged as the most “mainstream” of the automaker’s three-model lineup. That’s not the case with the Huracán and Aventador, because in the words of Reggiani, “the technology right now doesn’t allow us to set up a super sports car with PHEV the way we would like to.” Even Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali echoed those comments, saying that a hybrid system on its sports cars need to be introduced “at the right time” and not for the sake of introducing them because they’re in vogue.
But like everything else that’s been talked about regarding the Lamborghini Urus, the SUV is going to be a historic model for Lamborghini in more ways than one. It’s Lambo’s first sporty SUV, the first Lambo to use a turbocharged engine, and apparently, the first Lambo to go hybrid.
Continue after the jump to read the full story.
from Top Speed http://ift.tt/2ku9Dq2
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