2023 Lamborghini Urus Performante heats up SUV segment with 666 horsepower

by Fazeen Abdeen. October 4, 2022.

European Car News

Though the SUV segment may look mundane on the affordable end of the spectrum, the other extreme is witnessing a lot of action. Lamborghini Urus came around just four years ago, redefining the meaning of performance SUVs. Despite the fact that it was a runaway success for the brand, the teams at Sant’Agata Bolognese have come up with a Urus that packs more heat, the Lamborghini Urus Performante.

There is no questioning the fact that Urus was a successful venture for the Italian brand. The super-SUV helped Lamborghini rack up their biggest numbers ever for half-yearly sales, 5,090 cars in H1 2022. The Urus accounted for 61 percent of this big number. But, with the Ferrari Purosangue around the corner and the Aston Martin DBX, and its powerful twin, the DBX707 already in the market, the need for an update is clear. And hence, the Lamborghini Urus Performante is born.

Performance

Of course, just like every Performante out there, the formula for the Urus Performante is more power and less weight. It gets more power out of its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 but not much though. There is a 16 hp increase in the output, taking the total to 666 hp. The torque figures remain the same at 850 Nm.

The diet helps the Lamborghini Urus Performante lose 47 kilos to aid the performance. Couple these together, the Performante takes 0.3 seconds off the 0 to 100 kph time, which is now 3.3 seconds. The top speed remains the same though, at 306 kph. This is a tad slower than the DBX707’s 310 kph top speed.

Lowering the SUV is another modification done by the Lamborghini engineers. The Performante sits 20 mm lower than the regular Urus, and has 16 mm wider tracks. This should shave some microseconds off around corners at a track. It is 25 mm longer as well, thanks to slight modifications to the front and rear bumpers. A modified rear spoiler and carbon-fibre fins from the Aventador SVJ sit on top of the SUV, improving downforce by 8 percent. The carbon-fibre wheel arches grow beefier to accommodate optional 23-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli Trofeo R tyres.

The other goodies in the Lamborghini Urus Performante include an Akrapovic exhaust, numerous carbon-fibre parts, a more efficient differential, and a re-calibrated rear-wheel and front-wheel steering system. It also adds a special Rally drive mode to blast down on dirt tracks.