Lamborghini has, over the past few months, picked up the pace to bring its new SUV – the Urus – to showrooms by 2018. The Italian exotic carmaker has taken several steps to speed up the process including shelving the idea of a production version of the Asterion concept.

Although still around three years from production, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann has said that the company is considering several special editions of its upcoming SUV including a hardcore Superveloce.

He also confirmed that while the production SUV would retain the Urus concept’s exterior styling, the interior would be swapped for a more comfortable and conventional layout. He said that the production Urus would be a family car first though top speed and performance would also be important.
The Urus will be built at Lamborghini’s headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. The Italian government is already said to be providing the automaker with tax breaks and other benefits to ensure that the model will be built in Italy and not outsourced.

Lamborghini has not revealed any engine details for the SUV other than the fact that output would be over 600bhp. However, it is likely that the car will be offered with a hybrid powertrain using parent company Audi’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 in combination with an electric motor mated to a seven-speed double-clutch automatic gearbox and a Torsen four-wheel drive system.

The Urus is set to take on the most expensive SUVs in the markets. Some of these SUVs are already present in international markets like the Range Rover SV Autobiography while others like the Maserati Levante (end-2015) and Bentley Bentayga (2016) are launching shortly. Other upcoming SUVs in this segment of the market include the Rolls Royce Cullinan (2017), new BMW X7 and Audi Q8.