The Lamborghini Urus has been a boon for the company’s sales, but don’t expect to see new Raging Bull crossovers in the near future.
Unlike competitors such as Maserati and Porsche, the marque said recently it wouldn’t develop new SUVs, according to Australian site CarSales. The Urus was unveiled in 2017 and production began that year, too, after a Lamborghini SUV had been rumored for years prior. It almost immediately became a big hit: a high-performance, midsize, luxury car that met great demand for an expensive SUV from a brand like Lamborghini. In 2019, the Urus was Robb Report‘s Car of the Year, and it also seemed to get competitors thinking about dipping their toes into the SUV waters as well, with the Ferrari Purosangue coming out in 2022 to much debate.
Since its debut, Lamborghini has made all manner of Urus, including a hybrid, a racer, and an all-electric model planned for 2029. The Urus is, in short, an important car for Lamborghini, not exactly subsidizing its supercar and hypercar production but more than carrying its weight for the brand.
One could be forgiven in thinking, then, that Lamborghini has even more SUVs on the way. Porsche, for example, makes two different SUVs, the midsize Porsche Cayenne, which is a direct competitor to the Urus, and the more compact Macan. Until recently, Maserati had both the Levante and the Grecale. Further, Lamborghini isn’t so precious as Ferrari and the general feeling on a second Lamborghini SUV was simply: Why not?
The answer is that Lamborghini simply has higher priorities, for now, especially as the brand makes more EVs. Lamborghini’s first all-electric car could have 2,000 horsepower and is expected in 2030.
“When it comes to the choice of another body type or another kind of Urus, we have done this kind of analysis, especially before choosing the fourth model BEV [battery electric vehicle] that we want to launch around 2030, which will be a GT 2+2,” Federico Foschini, chief marketing officer for Lamborghini, told CarSales, referring to the electrified Revuelto, Urus hybrid, and Temerario. “But when it comes to the larger SUV, it cannot be as sporty as an SUV. It’s too easy for it to be too big. It’s not a Lamborghini.”
Foschini added, “There are other brands that are super premium or premium that can offer these, but I think that when you stay in our league, you cannot go below and you cannot offer something that is under-resourced.”
“Premium” and “super-premium” are how supercar and ultra-luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bentley, and others refer to brands like Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, and Jaguar. If Lamborghini made a second SUV, then, it’s saying that it might be accused of consorting with the premium and super-premium crowd, which, for a brand like Lamborghini, wouldn’t do. At least until it has to—which is why Lamborghini made the Urus in the first place.