The Lamborghini Urus hybrid will be more powerful than Ferrari's Purosangue
Next year's Urus plug-in hybrid will meet Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche head on as one of the most powerful SUVs on sale
Electrification is spreading throughout the car industry and all the way to Sant’Agata. Lamborghini is responding to demand for hybrid power with a rollout of new models, meaning that by 2024, hybrid engines will feature across the entire range: including the Urus SUV.
As these spy shots indicate, development is well underway for a new plug-in hybrid Urus, which is set to share its powertrain with the recently facelifted Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid. The Urus PHEV is expected to offer in the region of 730bhp when it launches next year, making the it one of the most powerful SUVs of all.
This high-voltage sticker on the side of this prototype confirms that it is indeed an electrified model, and there don’t appear to be many drastic design changes over the current Urus beneath the camouflage. Still, new y-shaped horizontal grille slats and slimmer headlights are just about visible through the disguise.
To surpass the current 657bhp Urus Performante in terms of power and efficiency, the PHEV will derive its 4-litre twin-turbo V8 powertrain from Porsche's Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid. With the petrol engine supplemented by a 174bhp electric motor, the Cayenne generates a combined 729bhp and 701lb ft of torque, and we expect the Urus hybrid to equal these figures at the very least.
That would position it ahead of the Range Rover Sport SV (626bhp), Aston Martin DBX707 (697bhp) and even the 715bhp Ferrari Purosangue. The Lamborghini should also match or better the Cayenne's 3.6sec 0-62mph time and 190mph top speed.
The new Turbo E-Hybrid can achieve up to 45 miles of pure electric running thanks to a 25.9kWh battery packaged under the boot floor, and the Urus PHEV should sit in a similar ballpark. Compared to the pure-petrol Cayenne S, the Turbo E-Hybrid gains an extra 405kg due to its electric hardware, so we could be staring down the barrel of a 2.5-ton Lamborghini when the covers come off...
