Urus

Segment
SUV

There's no question the Lamborghini Urus is a game-changer for the iconic Italian marque. The addition of an SUV to the lineup greatly expands the brand's appeal beyond supercar buyers. Though there's absolutely nothing wrong with supercars, the fact remains is that business is business and high-performance luxury SUVs are the big thing right now. For 2019, Lamborghini is set to sell about 8,200 vehicles and the plan is to increase this to 8,500 for 2020, but from there the figure will hold steady until 2025.

Automotive News Europe recently sat down with Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali to discuss a number of topics, such as annual sales. While the Urus has made a huge impact on annual growth, Domenicali made one thing clear: the plan to 10,000 units a year won't happen before 2025. Lamborghini's long-time rival, Ferrari, sold 9,251 units last year and is heading towards the 10,000 mark in the near future.

But Lamborghini will hold steady at 8,500. Why? Because it lacks a fourth model.

"We plan to reach about 8,500 units in 2020 and then to stabilize there for a while," said Domenicali. "The supercar segment is expected to grow about 3 percent a year and we can't expect the Urus to keep growing forever. Therefore, a fourth model would be needed to get us to 10,000. The model won't arrive before 2025 at the earliest."

What will that fourth model be? Domenicali admitted it'll very likely be a 2+2 GT model.

"This is what we have in mind (a GT model)," Domenicali said. "The package and the design are almost final, but the entire project is on standby. As our target is to reach the market between 2025 and 2027, we need to see what the available platform and powertrain options -- including full electric -- will be then within the VW Group. The only thing clear is that any Lamborghini model should offer the best performance within the group from that specific architecture."

In the meantime, Lamborghini is still planning to move ahead with a V8 plug-in hybrid Urus that will be the most powerful in terms of output, but performance is still being worked on due to the issue of excess battery and e-motor weight.