New Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato is a supercar for the extreme sports crowd
The Sterrato sees Lamborghini repackage its successful Huracán into a go-anywhere off-roader for a select group of free roaming auto enthusiasts
The association between supercars and anything other than pristine, ultra-smooth surfaces is not a particularly happy one. Broad tyres and low ground clearance make heavy work of ripples and bumps, and that’s just on a badly laid motorway, let alone the smoothest of gravel tracks.
Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato: an off-road supercar
Lamborghini hopes to shift that balance of power with the launch of the new Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, a pumped-up version of its V10-engined Huracán (the ‘baby’ Lamborghini of the current range). The Sterrato model bolsters the Huracán’s era-defining form with bolted-on bits of black plastic, the addition of front LED driving lights, a raised ride height, chunky tyres, and underbody protection.
The new model is also accompanied by one of the most OTT promotional videos ever put out by a major car maker, with poetry and delivery that is as rich in unintended humour as the car itself is in subtlety and nuance. Lamborghinis were never intended for shrinking violets.
Only 1,499 examples of the Sterrato will be built, effectively running out Huracán production after eight years and over 20,000 units (making it Lamborghini’s best-selling model ever). Like a few of its peers, the Italian manufacturer isn’t rushing to embrace electrification, engaging in a bit of foot-dragging and hand-waving, mumbling about things like ‘clean’ fuels.
Clean or not, combustion’s time is nearly up, and safety, speed limits, congestion, and social change have made the supercar more unviable than ever before. However, the Sterrato implies that tomorrow’s supercar owners are going to be searching for a different kind of bragging rights.
Just like Porsche’s recently announced 911 Dakar, the blend of SUV practicality with familiar sports car styling is a niche that very few had considered before. The Sterrato (the name means ‘dirt road’) adds elements like the ‘Lamborghini Drive Recorder’, which is a sort of personal digital archive of your favourite roads.
This is, in effect, the third off-road car to come from the brand, following the brutalist LM002 of the mid-1980s and today’s Urus SUV. The car is clearly pitched at markets where there is a surfeit of sand and not a whole load of regulations about who gets to play where and how in their motor vehicles. As a result, the Sterrato could be seen as little more than a glorified toy.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
It’s also telling that the company chose to announce the car at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022, a place where there is a ready currency for the superfluous and far-fetched. Whether the car is truly ‘an avant-garde work of art’ remains to be seen. It’ll certainly drive straight into the collections of Lamborghini fans who know an investment when they see one.
Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, from €263,000
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
The McLaren W1 is the latest in the sports car maker's tech-saturated Ultimate Series
First F1, then P1 and now W1, McLaren Automotive reveals its latest limited-edition supercar to the world, a £2m concoction of hybrid power and active aero that is, unsurprisingly, already sold out
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Paul Rudolph at The Met: ‘from Christmas lights to megastructures’
‘Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph’ opens at the Met in New York, exploring the modernist master's work through a feast of an exhibition
By Stephanie Murg Published
-
‘London: Lost Interiors’ gathers unseen imagery of some of the capital’s most spectacular homes
This new monograph is a fascinating foray into the interior life of London, charting changing tastes, emerging styles and the shifting social history of grand houses in the heart of a fast-changing city
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Lamborghini’s Mitja Borkert discusses the company’s new Temerario super sports car
The new Lamborghini Temerario was unveiled this month in California, ushering in a new era of electrified performance to replace the company’s best-selling Huracán model
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Coming soon: a curated collection of all the new EVs and hybrids that matter
We've rounded up new and updated offerings from Audi, Porsche, Ineos, Mini and more to keep tabs on the shifting sands of the mainstream car market
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
In memoriam: automotive designer Marcello Gandini (1938-2024)
As the man behind the form of the modern supercar, Marcello Gandini was hugely influential. We look back at some of his most accomplished designs
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Maserati Grecale Modena hits the middle ground, an SUV for the badge-conscious
The Maserati Grecale Modena shows just how far a brand has to go to make an impact in the contemporary car market. How does it reflect on the Italian company’s long heritage?
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
This handmade Lamborghini Countach LP400 is designed to slot on a shelf
Just 199 examples of this Lamborghini Countach LP400 will be built by Amalgam Collection, recreating every aspect of the iconic 1970s supercar, at a 1:8 scale
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Refreshed Volkswagen Touareg does the heavy lifting for long-distance travel
The new Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid is the people’s luxury SUV, capable of going anywhere and doing anything. Does it stack up to rivals?
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Christopher Pagani of Pagani Automobili explains how to make a modern hypercar
Pagani Automobili creates a handful of hypercars each year for a very select group of collectors, and now has a Miami showroom in addition to its Modena HQ
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Lamborghini Lanzador concept signposts an all-electric future
This dynamically-styled 2+2 is Lamborghini’s vision of an electric super GT of the near future and the first step on the road to electrification
By Jonathan Bell Published