[supra93]

It was only a couple of days ago that we learned Lamborghini’s upcoming SUV will be sticking with the Urus name of the concept unveiled in 2012 to preview the vehicle—and now a prototype has been spotted.

The prototype was spotted in Denmark by a reader of local website Pro-Street which has more of the shots. It reveals for the first time the shape of the Urus in production trim, and as was expected the vehicle is a bit bulkier than the rakish concept. It also appears to have lost the concept’s pumped fenders, although at least the Countach-style wheel arches remain.

Lamborghini has done a good job of hiding its prototypes for the Urus. Development is almost complete as the first pre-production examples will be rolling off the line at Lamborghini’s plant in northern Italy as early as April. Deliveries won’t start until 2018, however.

The Urus is based on the the MLB platform of fellow Volkswagen Group SUVs like the Audi Q7 and Bentley Bentayga. However, to extract the performance one would expect of a Lamborghini, engineers are thought to have used lighter carbon fiber in place of some of the steel and aluminum sections.

Under the hood is expected to be a twin-turbocharged V-8. It will most likely be a 4.0-liter design shared with other VW Group brands. Output should lie somewhere between 500 and 600 horsepower. This launch model will eventually be joined by a hybrid.

And though the focus of the Urus will be on-road performance, Lamborghini has confirmed there will be modes to handle off-road conditions such as sand, snow, gravel, etc. The Lamborghini boss hinted that there will also be a personalized mode similar to the Ego mode introduced on the Aventador S.

And in case you were wondering, Urus is taken from a form of the name for the aurochs, the ancient wild ancestor of modern cattle.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...urus-spy-shots