Super SUVs - what the ultra rich use to cruise in comfort

With the official unveiling of the Ferrari Purosangue, the Italian supercar marque enters new territory with its introduction of not just its first series production four-door model, but also its first SUV.

This places the brand from Maranello in a market segment populated by luxury SUVs with high-output powertrains, and at the sharp end of the segment at that – its naturally aspirated 6.5 litre V12 petrol engine produces its maximum power of 725 PS at 7,750 rpm and peak torque of 716 Nm at 6,250 rpm, of which 80% is available from 2,100 rpm.

These propel the Purosangue from 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and 0-200 km/h in 10.6 seconds, onwards to a top speed of more than 310 km/h. As revealed by Ferrari, the Purosangue employs a high-rpm method in delivering its performance, whereas others in this category employ turbocharging to propel their considerable mass to their impressive rates of acceleration. Naturally, in this age, electric drive is in the mix, too.

Among the turbocharged contenders is the Aston Martin DBX707, which as its model name indicates, outputs 707 PS from its AMG-sourced 4.0 litre biturbo V8 along with 900 Nm of torque. At debut, the DBX started life with the same base engine rated to produce 550 PS and 700 Nm of torque, which means that the DBX707 has uprated by 157 PS and 200 Nm, thus enabling the DBX707 to do 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and a maximum of 310 km/h.

Purely in terms of output, Jeep also produced the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk which made 707 hp and 875 Nm, though that wasn’t aimed at quite the same heights of luxury as the key players here.

Lamborghini released its SUV entry, the Urus some time before its neighbour, Ferrari had done, and the brand from Sant’Agata Bolognese officially unveiled its tall-riding model towards the end of 2017, with 650 PS and 850 Nm propelling the Urus from 0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds and to a top speed of 305 km/h.

An even more potent version has since arrived in the Urus Performante, packing marginally more power at 666 hp and the same peak torque figure with the benchmark 0-100 km/h sprint elapsed 0.3 second quicker at 3.3 seconds, and a top speed 1 km/h more at 306 km/h.

More significantly, the Urus set a new production SUV record at the Pike Peak International Hill Climb this year of 10:32.064, beating its own 2018 record by 17 seconds.

There are several other models from within the VW Group – which Lamborghini is part of – which use the biturbo 4.0 litre petrol V8 engine that the Urus shares, such as the Porsche Cayenne (640 PS/850 Nm in Turbo GT form), and the Audi RSQ8 (600 PS/800 Nm) and V8 versions of the Bentley Bentayga.

The crew from Crewe have ensured that the Bentayga does not miss out on the high-output party, giving it a twin-turbo 6.0 litre W12 rated to produce 635 PS and 900 Nm in the Bentayga Speed, which is good for 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 306 km/h, the latter the highest of any SUV before the Urus Performance matched it, later usurped by the DBX707.

The Bentayga isn’t the only British marque to pack lots of power and torque from a twin-turbo V12 engine, as there is also the Rolls-Royce Cullinan that makes 563 hp at 5,000 rpm and 850 Nm at 1,600 rpm, though naturally, Rolls-Royce takes a less overtly sporting approach to the super-SUV.

That said, for those who really want more from their Cullinan, there is the Black Badge that outputs 29 PS and 50 Nm more to reach 600 PS and 900 Nm.

Departing from internal combustion tradition is the Lotus Eletre, which the British sports car maker calls an electric hyper-SUV. Hethel says that the Eletre will feature outputs of at least 600 hp and all-wheel-drive, which will propel it from 0-100 km/h in under three seconds and onwards to a top speed of around 260 km/h.

GALLERY: Ferrari Purosangue