THE CURATED EDITION.
Reportage / Sant'Agata Bolognese
A twin-turbo V8 and an electric motor deliver 812 CV and 1,000 Nm, 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and 23 per cent more downforce than the Urus SE. Lamborghini sharpens the segment it invented.
MOTORING · LAMBORGHINI
Lamborghini has always been at its most interesting when it refuses to behave. The company that began by building tractors outside Bologna became, in 1963, a maker of cars that rewrote the idea of the supercar, and in 2017 it did something its purists considered heresy: it built an SUV. The Urus went on to become the best-selling model in the company’s history. The Urus SE Performante is what happens when that heresy is pursued to its logical end.
It is the most powerful Urus yet, and the most focused. Where the SE introduced plug-in hybrid power to the line, the Performante version takes the same architecture and tunes it for the driver who still treats a two-and-a-half-tonne vehicle as an instrument.
A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 works with a permanent-magnet electric motor to produce a combined 812 CV (801 hp) and 1,000 Nm of torque, available from 2,000 to 5,500 rpm. That is 144 hp more than the outgoing, purely combustion Urus Performante. A recalibrated eight-speed automatic sends it to all four wheels, and Lamborghini quotes 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 312 km/h. A 25.9 kWh battery beneath the load floor allows more than 60 km on electricity alone, at up to 130 km/h.
Stopping matters as much as going. The Integrated Power Brake system, which uses eight accelerometers and a six-axis sensor first developed for the limited-series Fenomeno, raises braking power by 10 per cent and responsiveness by 12 per cent over the previous Performante. With carbon-ceramic discs of 440 mm at the front and 410 mm at the rear, the car comes to rest from 200 km/h in under 130 metres. A new Rally mode joins Strada, Sport, Corsa and EV, for loose surfaces.
The design team under Mitja Borkert has worked the bodywork as much for airflow as for presence. An S-duct channels air from the shark-like nose through the bonnet, whose twin outlets work in the same way as those on the Fenomeno. Borkert’s view is that the aerodynamic changes are integrated so closely that nothing looks added after the fact, and that this is the most mature Urus the company has produced.
The numbers support him: 23 per cent more downforce and 3 per cent less drag than the Urus SE. The bonnet, roof, wheel arches, side skirts and rear diffuser are in carbon fibre, the diffuser being the widest yet fitted to the Urus. A titanium exhaust developed with Akrapovič saves a further 10 kg, and the car weighs 32 kg less than the SE.
The track is 16 mm wider than the SE’s, and new wheels come in 22 and 23 inches; Borkert considers the larger size the right balance, and the outer limit of what looks correct on the car. Dual-chamber air suspension with dual-valve dampers cuts body roll by 55 per cent compared with the previous Performante, while reducing the vibration that makes long journeys tiring.
Inside, exposed carbon fibre sits around a 12.3-inch central touchscreen and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, with an aviation-inspired panel of mechanical switches. Nothing here is passive. The cabin is designed for a driver who intends to be involved.
An SUV was once the least Lamborghini thing imaginable. The SE Performante suggests the company has stopped apologising for it, and started perfecting it.
Details: Lamborghini Urus SE Performante. 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plug-in hybrid, 812 CV, 1,000 Nm, 25.9 kWh battery, 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds, 312 km/h. Pricing on application through official Lamborghini dealers.
GABRIEL SILVEIRADO, FOR WAYFARER.
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