Lamborghini’s new super SUV is selling better than expected, with company CEO Stefano Domenicali saying that sales and orders of the Urus have been “terrific.” In an interview with CNBC, Domenicali said “we were expecting a positive feedback from the customer, but not at the level we are receiving now. The reaction of the customer is really fantastic.”
Let’s take a look at the numbers, then. Domenicali said the company will end 2018 with total production of around 5,000 cars – more than 1,000 of which will be the Urus. By the end of 2019, it will be producing around 8,000 cars, with more than half accounting for the SUV.
Currently, about 70% of the owners of the Urus are new to the brand, meaning that they have never owned a single Lamborghini before. Domenicali said he is also surprised by how many of the buyers are women. “We have seen an increase in female buyers for sure,” he said.
He also told the publication that the Urus is selling well in Russia and other markets with bad roads that made it hard to sell the company’s low-slung sports cars. “Russia and India have been strong for this car, so this is a big step for us,” he said.
More importantly, the CEO said Lamborghini will never become a mass producer, and will also keep its production low and quality high. He said the company plans to put the brakes on growth at the end 2019 to make sure it’s preserving the Lamborghini brand aura.
“The growth has to be done right. At the end of 2019, we will need to stop the growth to make sure that we have the value of exclusiveness that we need to make sure we keep on being profitable and that perception of the brand is what we want,” he explained.
Domenicali admits that Lamborghini is walking a fine line with the Urus. Many traditional owners and buyers of high-performance Lambo sports cars are aghast that the company is selling an SUV, no matter how good it is. Many worry that it will cheapen the brand’s image and exclusivity.
“This is a polarising car, you either love it or you don’t,” he said. “For those that don’t, I say just drive it. When they are seated in this car, they discover something they were not expecting.”
However, Domenicali stressed that the Urus SUV is truly worthy of the Lambo badge. It packs a 4.0 litre twin-turbo V8 making 650 PS at 6,000 rpm and 850 Nm of torque at 2,250 rpm. The century sprint is done in 3.6 seconds (0-200 km/h in 12.8 seconds) and goes on to a top speed of 305 km/h. The Urus can also tackle dirt, ice, snow and pot-hole filled roads – terrains that the Huracan and Aventador have more trouble tackling.
GALLERY: Lamborghini Urus launch in Sant’Agata Bolognese
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Well done. This is a very good product by Lamborghini.
Wow Russia and India got this car. Malaysia why so slow to arrive?
Its a 4.0l SUV, guess the road tax when come to Malaysia..
Before saying the road tax, what is the selling price?
Dun want to upset the many many Cayenne buyers here.
Yet it is probably the most conventional looking Lambo.
The funny thing is, this car will be an ancient beast very fast when you compare to thoroughly modern cars like the Tesla X, with the gull-wing doors, auto-pilot, launch mode with 0-100 in ~3.2seconds while not using petrol. And more interior space.
This Urus door handles are dam outdated. Look at that.
Only thing going for it is for petrolheads and badge-lovers. Interior is nice, credit where credit is due.
I dont know why but Im getting some proton vibe from the outer design of this thing. Dont get me wrong, the inside is something totally different
Quick question Paul. where do you get all those images from? as far as i know, I am not able to get pictures from google image due to copyright issues. So i was wondering – how/where did you get all those pics?
These live photos were taken by our writer Anthony Lim who was at the event.
Walking the talk. Excellent!
People are going mad with SUVs. First Porsche, then Maserati, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and now Lamborghini. Will Ferrari and McLaren also follow suit and abandon their DNA??
Amazing ! If only Proton can do even half of this , it would be a winner!