Lamborghini's new Urus beast is very much the talk of the town at the moment. That extends to New Zealand too; many waiting with baited breath for its April 7 public unveiling at Lamborghini Auckland.
In a way, Lambo should be thrilled with this reaction. The potential of fan bite-back was an inherent risk whjen they decided to produce an SUV, but screams of 'selling out' have since been few and far between.
Much of this comes down to the brand's seriousness when it comes to producing a vehicle that lives up to Lamborghini's flame-spitting, apex-hitting, performance reputation. Until now this has manifested itself through bold claims of the Urus being the quickest SUV ever made, through vision of it ripping up dunes with aplomb, and now through an announcement of motorsport aspirations.
Speaking to Autocar UK, Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed plans to launch some form of race programme around the Urus.
“Lamborghini welcomes challenges, but whatever we do, will be quite different from other brands. We will choose a form of competition intended only for our class of vehicle,” he said.
"Our car has many faces. You can enjoy its beauty, it is very fast on the track, very fast off-road and very fast on gravel. We will choose something that combines all of these things.”
The news comes at a curious time, given that Bentley have just confirmed that they will be taking on this year's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with expatriate Kiwi Rhys Millen behind the wheel. Jaguar, too, are well on their way to kicking off their own single-make series based on the Jaguar I-Pace EV.
Domenicali didn't offer any further info regarding where the Urus would race, but a single-make series to rival Jaguar's wouldn't be out of the question.
The manufacturer have always rather liked hosting single-make championships; back to the days of the Diablo SVR series through to today's Super Trofeo competitions utilising the Huracan.