Lamborghini India expects bull run with Urus SUV

Lamborghini is confident of doubling volumes in India once its much-awaited SUV, the Urus, goes on sale in the country next year.

“Lamborghini is looking to double its volumes globally with the Urus. But given that in India there is a lot more preference for SUVs among customers, I believe the growth multiplier for India will be higher than double,” Sharad Agarwal, head of Automobili Lamborghini India, told Autocar India.

The company expects the Urus to bring in new buyers to the Lamborghini fold and also interest existing customers looking for a practical Lamborghini.

Given the poor conditions of the roads in our country, Porsche has seen success with its performance SUVs such as Cayenne and Macan, and Lamborghini is confident of replicating that with the Urus.

At present, Lamborghini leads the Indian super sportscar segment that comprises cars with a price upwards of Rs 2.5 crore. Of the 70-odd cars sold in the segment in 2016, over 30 were Lamborghinis.

The Urus is Lamborghini’s first SUV since the LM002 (1986-1993). The Urus is expected to be powered by a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 and a plug-in hybrid powertrain will also be offered down the road. The SUV will be based on an evolution of Audi’s MLB platform which currently underpins the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne, and Bentley Bentayga. Lamborghini S.p.A. is expanding capacity at its Sant’Agata plant in order to cope with increased demand as it expects sales of around 3,500 SUVs per annum.

Talking about the buyer demographic for its supercars, Agarwal said that there has been a rise in buyers from Tier II and III towns such as Lucknow, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore and Madurai. Besides, there is higher demand from first-generation entrepreneurs, as opposed to second and third generation entrepreneurs which was largely the case earlier. "In fact, we also had a lady buyer last year and after that, we have sold a few more Lamborghinis to women in India," said Agarwal.

Take a closer look at the Urus concept in our image gallery