2027 Lamborghini Urus Performante spied – Ferrari Purosangue and Aston Martin DBX S rival sharpens up
Lamborghini is already testing a more sporting derivation of its newly-hybridised Urus super SUV
Lamborghini is one of the few car companies that can honestly say it’s having a good time. Sant’Agata is enjoying the rich rewards of astute decision-making in what are incredibly hard times, having held fire on the big all-electric bet and satisfied both customer and legislative demands with hybrids. The full lineup now pairs combustion power with batteries and motors, from its V12 flagship to its big-selling SUV. Now that SUV, the Urus SE, is soon to have a hardened version join its ranks, and we’ve spied it undergoing its latest round of testing. This should be the fastest, most focused Urus yet, to take on the Ferrari Purosangue, Aston Martin DBX S and Range Rover Sport SV
The first obvious differences are aero enhancements more in line with the Urus Performante that preceded the arrival of the SE. This was a more performance-focused model with an extra lip spoiler below its rear window and a more prominent spoiler above it. It also had more aggressive bumpers and an exposed carbonfibre bonnet.
In the prototype images we have here, we can at least see more aggression in the bumper treatments, while especially undeniable, are the more Huracán Performante-inspired wheels and the return of the Urus Performante’s wing. For reference, the Performante’s aero revisions increased downforce over the original Urus by 38 per cent, dropping the kerb weight by 47kg to 2150kg in the process. We can also see vented, potentially nominally wider carbonfibre arch trims standing out from the camouflage, which could hint at a slightly wider track.
In spite of this potentially being a more aggressive variant of the Urus, it’s unlikely the 789bhp and 700lb ft of the standard Urus SE will be bumped too much. The last ICE-only Performante received a 15bhp bump to 656bhp over the original Urus, though so did the Urus S, which took the place of the original as the ‘standard’ version.
What we will most likely see is this performance version getting similar weight reduction and downforce-producing measures as the last Performante, with a powertrain to match the ‘standard’ Urus SE. Unfortunately, there will be no magic trick to lop 300kg off the Urus SE’s bloated 2505kg kerb weight.
The battery pack is going nowhere and isn’t about to get any lighter. Expect the new Urus Performante, or whatever it’s to be called, to weigh in the region of 2450kg at the kerb – not so ‘Superleggera’.
In terms of pricing, expect the new Urus Performante to cost a chunk more than the ‘standard’ Urus SE on which it’s based. The last Performante was £20,000 more than the Urus S alongside which it was sold, so based on the SE’s current price of £208,000, expect this more focused Urus to cost from around £230,000 when it arrives.
When will the new Urus Performante arrive? The last Urus Performante arrived over four years after the original’s reveal, suggesting a mid-to-late 2028 debut for the new Performante. That would however be close to the next-generation Urus’s projected 2029 arrival, so we expect to see the new Performante a bit sooner than that.
