How The Urus Concept Is Lamborghini Going Back To Its Roots

The public reaction to the Lamborghini Urus has been mostly negative and much the same as when the Porsche Cayenne first came out. Many are calling out Lamborghini for selling out and diluting the brand in a search for more cash even though Lamborghini made an SUV back when they weren't even in. Many are lamenting the fact that the Urus is not like the Aventador. Ironically though, the Urus could be the closest Lamborghini in decades to what Mr. Lamborghini imagined for his brand to be when he founded it. At the start and throughout his tenure at the helm, Ferruccio Lamborghini wanted his brand to build comfortable yet extremely fast cars. In fact he started branched out to cars from his tractor business because the Ferraris he owned were too noisy and too spartan inside and just plain not roadworthy enough. While Lamborghini would go on to become famous for its no holds barred mid engined supercars it was front engined tourers like the Espada that were more in line with what the company was intended for. While the Estoque would certainly fit Mr. Lamborghini's desire for a comfortable grand tourer even better, the Urus is still the closest Lamborghini to his ideal in years.

The Espada is what Mr. Lamborghini envisioned his company to be. source

Ferrari FF

Company press releases often throw around the world "revolutionary" as if they are indeed planning a revolution, but instead they are usually just hyping up their latest econobox which is just as boxy and economic as all the others. In the case of the Ferrari FF (Ferrari Four) the use of the word is actually justified as the 612 Scaglietti replacement is a significant departure from everything the brand has done before. Ferrari's new four seater is its first four wheel drive hatchback, perhaps the first modern vehicle actually deserving of the much overused term shooting-brake. In any case the FF is probably one of the largest hatches in the world at 193 inches, this gives the Ferrari four seater 16 cubic feet of luggage capacity. In what is probably a first for Ferrari the rear seats fold to give you 28 cubic feet of carrying capacity making the FF the first Ferrari approved for Costco run duty. Four wheel drive is another new technology to the Ferrari brand. Ferrari claims that its patented 4RM four wheel drive system weighs only half of a typical all wheel drive system. Powering the FF is a 651 horsepower direct injected 6.3 liter V12. Interestingly enough that is the same power output as the Ferrari Enzo with an additional 19 lb-ft of torque, an excellent example of technological progress. The addition of direct injection and a start-stop system (a first for a production Ferrari as well) gives the FF a 33% bump in fuel economy when compared to its predecessor, a two wheel drive car that had 120 fewer horsepower. The performance of the FF will undoubtedly be superb, however the biggest water cooler talk about the FF will be its styling. Reminiscent of the cult status Z3 " the Clown Shoe" Coupe in its profile the styling will be a hot topic for some time. Mostly because it is just too unusual to see a 300,000 dollar+ hatchback. Whatever your opinion of the styling it is refreshing and laudable to see a company pushing the boundaries of design when they could have easily followed their traditional formula and still sell every example that they made. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if people are willing to buy a 209 mph hatchback or if they will go for something more conventional like the Lamborghini Estoque sedan.