Urus

Segment
SUV

Lamborghini is not what you'd call a "volume" or "mass-market" automaker, by any stretch of the imagination. But its production has been steadily increasing over the past several years. And now it's taken a giant leap forward.

By how much, exactly, you wonder? Nearly double. With the totals now tabulated for the first half of 2019, Lamborghini reveals that it delivered 96 percent more vehicles around the world over the past six months than it did in the first half of last year. In fact those 4,553 units get mighty close to the 5,750 it sold the whole of 2018.

That's a huge, practically unprecedented increase. And while the Huracan and Aventador played their parts (accounting for 40 percent of sales), the escalation of the Italian supercar manufacturer's production comes down mostly to one model: the Urus.

Sant'Agata has delivered 2,693 examples of its "Super SUV" so far this year, itself accounting for more than all other models combined. Part of that might come down to the Urus' sticker price, which (starting at about $200k) about matches that of the base Huracan. But pricing only tells part of the story.

It took nearly a year and a half – almost three times as long – for Lamborghini to deliver as many Huracans as it has Uruses in the past half year. The real appeal of the Urus may very well lie in the relative versatility of its form, which can accommodate more than two passengers – the first such Lambo since the Jarama in the 1970s – and doesn't need perfectly paved, smooth roads like the Raging Bull marque's super-sports cars do. Add to that the rising overall popularity of crossovers and the Urus is a slam-dunk for the brand.

"Delivering another new all-time high, for the fifth consecutive half-year, confirms the sustainability of our brand, product and commercial strategy," said CEO Stefano Domenicali. "Our highly acclaimed Super SUV Urus in its first full year of production brings further growth in new dimensions, and our super sports cars also delivered excellent results."

The US market accounted for 1,543 units – a whopping 128-percent increase – in the past half-year. That by itself amounts to more than all the vehicles it sold around the world in 2010. In 1999, when Volkswagen took over the company, it was only selling a couple hundred vehicles per year.