BUT IS IT A LAMBO?

Chief engineer Maurizio Reggiani on realising the Urus

‘We wanted to have the fastest SUV. I think you will be impressed with the car on the track. You will also see the off-road course we have here at the launch. It is gravel. My interpretation is this – speed on gravel, not off-road like a Land Rover!

‘We can choose what we need from within the group – the technologies that enable us to realise the performance we need. The V8 engine was the only engine choice we could make, for example, because you need the torque available at very low rpm. However, while we work within the platform, if anyone [brands within the VW Group] wants something specific, such as we need with the cooling of the engine – oil, water and the gearbox – then we can take responsibility for this.

‘It’s the same with the engine: we have developed at Lamborghini a new intake manifold, cylinder head, camshafts, air filter, new twinscroll turbos and the exhaust system. It is a Lamborghini engine. The sound is very important with a Lamborghini, but with a turbocharged engine you lose the sound, so we have a resonator in the exhaust to take the harmonics and sound into the cabin.

‘To develop the car we have taken on many more engineers. When I started at Lamborghini [in 1998] we had maybe 40, 50 engineers at the time of the Murciélago, whereas now we have hundreds – and this is to realise the Urus. We have tested the vehicle all over the world. Yes, we have tested it at the Nürburgring, where we have had a big development with the tyres: there are so many types of bumps, surfaces, corners and high-speed sections, it is so much easier there. I said during development that the Urus would set the fastest time, but yes, at the moment there is not so much competition in this class.’