No, we don't mean a prequel to the 2010 Paris show's carbon-drunk Sesto Elemento (i.e., "Sixth Element"), but rather the exact state of Lambo's third model line, which has commonly been referred to as an "every-day" model. (No doubt for the "every-day" well-heeled.) It actually seems as if this third model has remained an almost undesirable concept or distraction up until Lamborghini cavaliere Stephan Winkelmann finally announced it in a recent press conference. It had been a distant dream, as it turns out. But no more.
The third bull in the stable is definitely on its way, and the four-door Estoque concept also shown at Paris (in 2008) that seemed so unbuildable is now most decidedly getting ready for the assembly line, and as quickly as Lambo can muster. (It might still get the brakes, but more on that in a second.) Lamborghini and mothership Audi (and, by association, Big Poppa Volkswagen) at long last realized that a small range of two-seat hypercars just wasn’t going to take Sant'Agata terribly far as time wore on, never mind assist the VW Group in shifting 15 million units annually by 2018. And so something extremely new and more usable has been deemed necessary.
If the Estoque doesn’t happen, it’s because there’s also a taller, super-SUV on the ticket. (It will undoubtedly be more beautiful than the desert-stomping, and paradoxically awesome LM metal sheds of yore.) The truth for now, according to our moles in Bologna, is that Lamborghini is going to be heavily examining and testing both body configurations this summer, hoping to decide by October on one or the other to be the third Lambo, which would then go on sale as a 2015 model. Whichever it is, Lamborghini informers consistently repeat the phrase "decidedly different from what has come before." The tree will undoubtedly shake, the boat shall surely rock, and apple carts everywhere are bound to tip. The plan is currently to show this model at an auto show in 2013 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Ferruccio Lamborghini's anti-Ferrari gambit.
But there's more: Information handed to us seems to indicate that the screaming super SUV has the edge here. That's a little surprising, but not so much when the apparent source of the excitement is VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch himself. The Lamborghini V-12 SUV will possess the go-power of a Ferrari FF but with the general stance of the BMW X6, including a sloping roof to the back. And there’s a strong push for the thing to have only two passenger doors. This, says a source, because it automatically makes saving weight easier when starting with the mass of an SUV. The point is clearly to haul ass.
Business-case wise, the SUV wins out, too, since it would hit the asphalt with absolutely no competitors. A four-door supersedan would have at least the Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, and (somewhat) the Ferrari FF to face down. The super SUV also may get the edge when thinking of those well-to-do clients with Dakar on their mind, plenty of whom do exist in Asia and the Middle East and who love to play amateur desert racer. This would assure a comfortable level of sales of what promises to be at least a $425,000 proposition.
The interior will seat four, and the vehicle is meant to benefit from every bit of the latest Lamborghini/Audi/VW onboard tech, most (if not all) of which we’re told will be touch-screen based. Initial exterior proposals include the sloping rear end, but are also described as appearing very taut and low-slung, so as to benefit from a lower center of gravity.
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Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/lamborghini-deciding-whether-to-build-estoque-sedan-or-crossover-suv/
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