Lamborghini Urus hybrid revealed as UK’s most powerful ICE SUV

The Lamborghini Urus is now exclusively available with plug-in hybrid power, combining a V8 with an electric motor for nearly 800bhp and supercar levels of speed.

The Urus SE, as it is called, is Lamborghini‘s second hybrid after the Revuelto, and will be joined later this year by an electrically assisted replacement for the Hurácan, making Lamborghini’s line-up all electrified. 

The production version of the fully electric Lanzador super-crossover is due in 2028, and the second-generation Urus is due to follow shortly after with an EV powertrain. 

The Urus SE has been revealed on the eve of its public debut at the Beijing motor show this week, wearing a subtle new look that marks it out from the pure-V8 Urus that’s been on sale since 2018.

The two versions of Lamborghini’s best-seller will be in production together for a short period, while orders for the outgoing variant are fulfilled, but the pure-V8 Urus is no longer available to order and the last one will be produced in the coming months. 

The SE is expected to command a premium over the previous Urus, which started at £211,000 in top-rung Performante guise, but Lamborghini will confirm full pricing at the UK launch.

Its plug-in powertrain – based around the Urus’s existing twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 – is largely familiar from the Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid with which Lamborghini’s SUV shares a platform. 

The petrol engine supplies 612bhp in its own right, with assistance from a gearbox-integrated EV motor taking total output to 789bhp – a 132bhp boost over the hardcore Urus Performante, and comfortably more than any combustion SUV currently on sale in the UK. Only the pure-electric Lotus Eletre can be specified with more power. 

With combined torque put at 701lb ft, the Urus SE can crack the 0-62mph sprint in just 3.4secs.

Electric power is supplied by a 25.9kWh battery underneath the boot floor, which Lamborghini says is big enough to allow for 37 miles of EV running – which is possible at speeds of more than 80mph. 

The electrified elements of the drivetrain take the Urus SE’s kerbweight up to 2504kg, compared to 2197kg for the standard Urus S. 

The weight increase is “not avoidable”, said Lamborghini CTO Rouven Mohr, “but we worked a lot on compensation”.

He cites the removal of the mechanical rear differential in favour of a new electronically controlled limited-slip differential (e-LSD) as one example, claiming a weight saving of around 20kg. 

“It will still be the lightest car in the hybrid segment, for sure. It’s still lighter than all the other cars that have a hybrid drivetrain,” he told Autocar. 

“For sure, it’s heavier than the combustion-only version,” he admitted, “but overall if you drive it you will not feel it, to be honest.”

“Even on the race track,” he added, “you have to be a pro driver. For sure, if you’re a pro driver there is a certain level where you feel it, but it’s on a super-high level.”

Mohr said that the Urus SE can achieve the same lap times at the race track as the Performante, when equipped with the same tyres.  

Also new for the updated Urus is a new torque distribution system which apportions power “variably and continuously” between the axles, while the e-LSD manages the spread of torque across the rear axle, with the car capable of sending 100% of its reserves rearward on demand. 

To go with its new powertrain, the Urus has been lightly restyled, with a Revuelto-inspired treatment at the front end, a new boot lid and Y-shaped lighting elements among the headlines. 

Meanwhile, new under-body air vents, reshaped ducts and the reworked front end combine to give a claimed 30% improvement in cooling of the braking system. 

Inside, the layout is familiar but the central infotainment touchscreen has been upsized from 10.1in to 12.3in, and it is now, Lamborghini says, “even more intuitive to use”, courtesy of revamped menus and improved graphics. 

Mohr told Autocar that the move to a larger screen is not reflective of a shift in mindset towards all-out digitisation at Lamborghini. 

“Am I convinced by the new trend that a car is more a less a screen with four wheels? This might be the right way for some manufacturers – they can decide – but for us, it’s not. We are not producing televisions with wheels. We are producing cars with the latest connectivity features, therefore the focus on our cars will always be the driver, and the driving experience.

“We cannot, and we don’t want to, ignore the expectations, especially in a daily user-oriented car like the Urus, regarding the latest technologies like connectivity, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto – all the things that you use today when you commute from A to B.

“Therefore, we decided to update the screen size, but it’s clearly still driver-focused and what we will never give up – at least at the moment it’s not the plan – is haptic devices.”

Mohr said the Urus SE’s cabin arrangement is emblematic of Lamborghini’s belief that car interiors will evolve to a point of balance between voice control, touch-sensitive controls and physical buttons and switches. 

The new Urus, in line with that notion, features a new line of switches inspired by jet fighters, and the ‘Tamburo’ drive selecter remains a physical lever, with, Mohr claims, “improved precision”. 

“Our philosophy is that everything related to the driving experience has to be a super-cool optical and haptical device.”