We’ve interviewed Lamborghini’s head of technology, who confirms that models like the Urus Performante will have to be said goodbye. At some point, only the SE version will be offered.
The Lamborghini Urus SE will be the only available version of the Italian brand’s sports SUV. It is One of the keys we discovered after talking to Reuven Mohr, Lamborghini’s technical directorIn an interview he expressed some doubts about the company’s future. This is what he told us.
Texto original by Alex Kalogiannis
Will the Urus SE’s comfortable everyday car get in the way of engineering for greater performance?
“Yes, to be honest. It is important to understand that The car replaces the Urus S and Performante„So in the future this Lamborghini SUV, the Urus SE, can only be ordered.”
“This car is an all-terrain vehicle and it is still comfortable [que el Urus S] Because we completely overhauled the air suspension. With the same tires the SE is faster than the Urus PerformanteIts track times are closer to the Performance’s, and it’s a lot more fun because we can drive more with rear-wheel drive.
„But, as you said at the beginning, the development goal was for the car to have a wide range of driving characteristics.”
What are some of the goals for electrifying the Urus?
„For us, it’s not about the overall performance numbers. If you look at the numbers, the power and torque of the electric motor and the combustion engine, you know that the sum of that system power is not the sum of the two. Our goal is to design the driving experience”.
„So to improve driving, function is more important than absolute maximum power. In the end, you don’t feel maximum power, you feel how the car performs. „If you step on the accelerator, if you let it go, if you change gears, we’re improving the load.”
In Revuelto, the aim of hybridization is to maintain consistent performance across circuit sessions. Is it the same purpose here?
„Yeah right. El Revolto more [centrado en la pista] More than this car, but we have clear goals based on our internal needs. There should be no thermal degradation or battery drain. Performance should be consistent„So, if you take the same corner 233 times, the perception of the car’s behavior should be the same.”
„There are hybrids on the market (I’m not going to name names) where the hybrid system completely changes the performance strategy. „They have an additional electric motor with two gears, and depending on the gear engaged, the acceleration behavior is different.”
“Then you have a kind of hysteresis and these kinds of things, which we don’t want. We want predictable, natural, and consistent behavior It also makes sense to users.”
With the Revuelto, you decided to keep the Aventador’s V12 and back it up with a hybrid system instead of downsizing. Was the decision to put the twin-turbo V8 in the Urus for similar reasons?
„Exactly. Our philosophy of hybrid is very simple and clear. We add electric components to improve performance and driving experience. We don’t want to cut back. We want to provide customer added value in terms of electrical components. So it was clear to us: V8, we don’t want to cut it.”
Couldn’t the same have been done with the V10 that ends production with the Huracán and is replaced by a smaller unit?
„It’s not always about the number of cylinders. It should be measured by the power of the combustion engine. We do not want to reach a situation where there is a certain relationship between combustion power and electric power”.
„All of our performance hybrids are characterized by a completely dominant combustion part, and then we add the electric part to support the combustion part to make it more powerful and more reactive.”
What was the biggest challenge when creating a fully electric Lamborghini?
„The biggest challenge is less about efficiency, because that’s always been our base. The reason to buy a Lamborghini is the design, but above all the emotions behind the wheel”.
„And for a fully electric Lamborghini, it’s clear that we have to find the right interpretation to match our level of emotion behind the wheel, because that’s what people expect from our brand.”