The view that Lamborghini shouldn't have 'sold out' and made an SUV has well and truly passed its use-by date.
The new Urus arrived last year, with its big proportions, luxury cabin, and 4.0-litre twin-turbo 478kW/850Nm V8 engine. Most of the sports-car faithful who shot down the concept way back when had to concede that it was a rather potent and impressive package.
And, based on sales figures, the decision to make the Urus has proved to have been a masterstroke for Lamborghini.
Global numbers revealed in February showed that Lamborghini's sales figures jumped by 51 per cent in 2018, with the company delivering a total of 5750 cars worldwide. Of that number, 1761 were variants of the new Urus — a huge chunk.
And that trend has been reflected in New Zealand, too. Here, Lamborghini has sold 20 Urus', with the next 20 that are on their way having already been pre-sold.
If you walked into the dealership lot today and placed an order for a new Urus, the wait would be between nine months and 18.
And, fun fact, the most popular option for Urus SUVs sold in Australia and New Zealand is ... the additional tow bar.
Those numbers might sound relatively small when compared to New Zealand's sales heavy hitters, like the Ford Ranger or Toyota Hilux. But remember that A) we're talking about a niche $339,000 product, built by a niche company and B) we're talking about a tiny little country at the bottom of the world.
What does this mean for Lamborghini? Well, the marque hopes to raise their output to between 7500 and 8000 units sold per year globally according to Andrea Ruggiero, boss of Lamborghini Oceania.
He fears that hitting output that exceeds that number could jeopardise Lamborghini's position as an 'exclusive' manufacturer — a reputation that has so far survived the addition of one (admittedly incredibly quick) SUV.