A $200,000 Lamborghini supercar to jumble the innards of the entire family

o you remember the last time Lamborghini ventured into the sport-utility-vehicle business? From 1986 to 1993, it manufactured a brutal and ferocious off-road beast known as the LM002, colloquially known as the “Rambo Lambo.”

Lamborghini is back in the utility business in a big way, but this time the company has gone in a totally different and much more sensible direction with the new 2019 Urus.

Don’t think predominantly off-road, think Porsche Cayenne Turbo fighter. It’s a Lamborghini supercar to stress the intestines of the whole family. Instead of a supercar being a secondary purchase, it can be a daily driver for all seasons.

Named for the Spanish fighting bull, the Urus is actually much more sports car at heart than utility vehicle. It has all-wheel-drive, a wagon body, a full back seat and a square rear end that features a conventional lift gate, but the rest is pure pavement-eating high performance.

With its 641-horsepower twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine, the Urus accelerates to 200 km/h from rest (about 122 mph) in 12.8 seconds, and has a top speed of 306 km/h, or just a tick under 200 mph.

All that power connects to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and all-wheel-drive. There are six selectable driving modes in what Lamborghini calls the Tamburo, allowing the pilot to set the car up for optimum handling on any road surface, or even any non-road surface, including mud, gravel or snow.

The Urus’s basic platform is familiar: Since Lamborghini is part of the VW Group, it shares its platform with the Porsche Cayenne, the Audi Q7 and the Bentley Bentayga luxury liner. The Urus might not be in a class by itself, but it’s certainly in an elite class where it doesn’t take long to call the roll.

Naturally, though, the Urus has its own special touches, from the aggressive body contours on the fenders to the sumptuous and oh-so-Italian-leather interior.

Then there’s the entire suite of technology that allows the Urus to be enjoyed as a daily driver, or as a wicked fast sports car on the track, or even as a good handler when there’s no road.

Why a family ride from a sports-car maker? Simple. Utility vehicles sell in much higher volumes than two-seat sports cars. While Porsche purists cringed when the Cayenne was first launched, it sold in high enough volumes to keep Porsche profitable and allow its traditional sports cars to survive and flourish.

Lamborghini is expecting a similar result with the Urus. The company projects that it will sell 3,500 a year, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but only 1,033 cars were sold in the United States in 2016. So expect the Urus to be a big seller, relatively speaking. Already, the new Lamborghini is drawing favorable press.

“The jagged lines and typical Lamborghini flare make for an SUV with the presence of a supercar, the performance to match, and the everyday usability of a conventional SUV,” wrote Michael Whiteley for AutomobileMag.com. “You can’t argue with the facts, either — the Urus is the lowest SUV on the market, offers the lowest seating position, and is the fastest. For those facts alone it gets my seal of approval.”

Christian Wardlaw of NYDailyNews.com cut right to the chase. “With U.S. lawmakers cutting taxes for businesses, corporations, and the wealthiest of Americans, Lamborghini could not have better timed the introduction of the Urus,” he wrote. “Undoubtedly, this new Super SUV will prove quite popular in money-drenched enclaves stretching from Brookville to Beverly Hills.”

It’s hard to argue with that logic. And hard not to think that the Urus will be a huge success for Lamborghini.

(PHOTOS: LAMBORGHINI) The four-seat layout keeps the rear passengers just as lashed in as the front-seat humans. The Urus shares its platform with the Porsche Cayenne and the Audi Q7.