Subtlety, thy name is not Lamborghini. The Italian master of automotive self-expression has unveiled the Urus SE Performante, the new flagship variant of its high-performance SUV. It supersedes the Urus SE, which in turn superseded the Urus S, which trumped the plain old vanilla Urus, originally released in 2017 and getting steadily wilder and more unhinged with each subsequent incarnation.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
That’s not to say that Urus Mk1 was in any way subtle. In the 2010s, Lamborghini realised that it was lagging behind its peers in the race to SUV-ify the essence of its brand. The 2002 Porsche Cayenne, countless AMG, M-spec and S models from Mercedes, BMW and Audi respectively, and the 2015 Bentley Bentayga had been huge sales successes for their respective companies; the 2020 Aston Martin DBX and 2023 Ferrari Purosangue followed inevitably in their wake.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
It’s also not without significance that Lamborghini has been part of the VW Group since 1998, giving it access to engineering and manufacturing know-how from a number of other brands. Cleverly, the Urus platform was shared with the original Bentayga, as well as the Audi Q8, Volkswagen Touareg and Cayenne.
The technology has since forked in various different directions, with an all-electric Cayenne making use of the Premium Platform Electric also used in the Audi Q6 e-tron. Like the Q8, Touareg and Bentayga, the Urus SE Performante has a hybrid system, with the ability to drive in pure electric mode. Yet somehow, Lamborghini has managed to make the Urus feel distinct and different, an embodiment of the brand's rebellious, outlier character.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
These platform shenanigans are largely invisible to the consumer, such are the levels of customisation and tweaking between each brand, and, of course, the dramatically different design languages used inside and out. In this respect, the Urus takes the cake as the most authentic representation of its brand ethos, all slashes, creases, spoilers, wings and splitters – there’s so much going on that it’s surprising to find an actual family car underneath it all.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
With the model getting a little long in the tooth, the SE Performante is a final flourish, dialling the design input up way past 11 in order to tap the howling extroverts that make up the Urus customer base. Described by Lamborghini as the ‘most sportive, the most performant Urus we have ever created’, the SE Performante gave the team at Centro Stile Lamborghini an aesthetic workout, overseen by design director Mitja Borkert.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
Lamborghini’s dedicated studio was set up 21 years ago by Walter de Silva, one of the masterplanners of VW’s management of its spread of distinct, individual brands. Acknowledging that design – preferably outlandish – is a key reason why people buy into the Lamborghini brand, Borkert says simply, ‘We are not form follows function – we are form follows adrenaline. We give adrenaline a shape.'
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
The car makes its media debut accompanied by an AC/DC soundtrack, with the camera rolling fetishistically across the uprated details – a new 'power dome' bonnet, the deeper shark-nosed grille that bleeds into the carbon front splitter, an even wider front and rear, and new 23-inch wheels, topped off by a carbon fibre roof that swoops down to a prominent rear wing.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante rear wing
Inside, the Urus follows the Lamborghini playbook, with moody black Alcantara and red stitching, aviation-inspired control surfaces and the ambience of fighter jet. Or starship. It’s a fantasy environment come to life, something that comes across in the intense CGI imagery accompanying the launch, some of which looks as if it has been lifted straight from a games console.
Interior trim is Nero Cosmos, 'the darkest, blackest black microfibre that we offer', further adding to the Urus’ litany of Spinal Tap-style excesses. Launch colours include Giallo Crius yellow, Bianco Monocerus white, and Verde Hydra Matt green.
Borkert lists out the brand signifiers – 'For me, it's important that a Lamborghini has a pointed front, like a shark' – and the most dramatic components, like the widest rear diffuser ever offered on the Urus, as well as the plethora of carbon fibre – even the steering wheel. That contributes to a modest but handy weight saving of around 32kg.
There’s also a nod to the Lamborghini family history – its wilder side, at least. 'There’s a little bit of Countach influence in the taillights and the hexagon elements,’ Borkert explains, while the ultra-light Huracán STO influenced the red elements in the seats and horizontal lines on the bolsters.
Inside the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
'I like always to talk about the mission of a project,’ Borkert explains. ‘When we start a new Lamborghini, we define the mission with the interior, exterior and UX team. I told them this was the sportiest version, like in the racecars of the 1970s with the black front bonnet, less reflection – it looks cool – that's why the bonnet looks that way. It's the same for the interior – it is more […] like a deep, driver-orientated cabin where you take away all distraction.’
Inside the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
Appropriately enough, the Urus SE Performante is being billed as the fastest Super SUV in the world, with 0-100 km/h (62mph) taking just 3.3 seconds, and 200 km/h coming up in 10.8 seconds. The top speed is 312 km/h (193mph). All important figures for the typical Lamborghini customer.
Despite all this visual, aural and mechanical drama, the SE Performante will have to be as simple to use day to day as any other Urus – it is, after all, a family car, despite its mighty V8 and track-focused Corsa driving mode. Whether a contemporary SUV is focused on off- or on-road performance, they’re usually driven as symbols of potential, not practicality. The new SE Performante is no different.
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante
Lamborghini Urus SE Performante, price tbc, Lamborghini.com, @Lamborghini