High powered SUVs
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- Image Credit: Autoblog
Lamborghini Urus
Lamborghini, the Italian brand best known for super sports cars, can't resist the market opportunity of SUVs and introduced its first ever utility vehicle to huge applause in Beijing this week.
The Lamborghini Urus concept SUV stole the show in Beijing, China, this week with its sleek design and nearly 600 horsepower engine.
Everyone is a buzz on whether or not Lamborghini will build it. But the exotic car maker has strongly hinted it will.
“The Urus is a very concrete idea for the future of Lamborghini – as a third model line and as the perfect complement to our super sports cars,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. “SUVs stand for freedom and emotion.
SUVs make up one of the most successful market segments worldwide. The Urus is the most extreme interpretation of the SUV idea; it is the Lamborghini of the SUVs.”
Click through to see more of the Urus and some of its stiffest competition in the burgeoning "Super SUV" segment that is taking off among the wealthy in China, and expected to be a hit with the 1-percent crowd in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and South America as well. -
- Image Credit: Lamborghini
Lamborghini Urus
Engine: 5.2-liter V-10
Horsepower: 584
Price: Expect $200,000
Lightweight and super powerful, the Urus will definitely leave a mark with performance ‘ute buyers looking for something out of the ordinary. This concept vehicle, assuming it will be built, could arrive by 2015. It would be sold as an "exclusive SUV," with Lamborghini only selling 3,000 a year.
Lamborghini, part of the Volkswagen Group, will also feature lots of carbon fiber and lightweight materials to help it go even faster. -
- Image Credit: Autoblog
Lamborghini Urus
Only four people will fit inside the Urus. It's not exactly a vehicle for suburban soccer Moms.
Lamborghini says the interior should fit its driver like a well tailored suit. -
- Image Credit: Autoblog
Lamborghini Urus
There will be mulitple touch screens throughout the cabin of the Urus. The speedometer and tachometer will not come as real gauges but rather video read outs on the small screen behind the steering wheel.
Steering wheel mounted controls will allow the driver to operate most features in the vehicle, and additional controls will be included on the center stack.
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- Image Credit: Autoblog
Lamborghini Urus
As is the tradition at Lamborghini, the name Urus is dervied from a bull.
This bull, the Urus, was one of the wild ancestors to domestic cattle. The Urus could measure nearly six feet tall at at the shoulder. Spanish fighting bulls are still close to what a Urus might look like today.
But there are plenty more bulls in the pen from other carmakers, hoping to cash in on the high performance SUV segment--some with super prices like the Lambo Urus and others that would better fit the pocketbook of those speed-minded soccer Moms and Dads.
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- Image Credit: Bentley
Bentley EXP 9F
Engine: 6-liter twin turbo W-12
Horsepower: 567 horsepower
Torque: 516 pound-feet
Price: Not released, expect $200,000-plus
First shown in Geneva, Bentley has plans to bring a big, powerful SUV to market by 2015. It would likely feature the 12-cylinder 6-liter engine Bentley uses in other vehicles. It would obviously redefine opulent interior for an SUV, as many of the coach-maker’s other vehicles do.
According to Bloomberg News, Bentley is considering a price tag just north of $200,000. Good thing it doesn’t arrive for three more years, leaving people with enough time to save. -
- Image Credit: Porsche
Porsche Cayenne GTS
Engine: 4.8-liter V-8
Horsepower: 420
Torque: 380 pound-feet
Price: $82,050
If it looks like a Porsche, drives like a Porsche and acts like a Porsche, it probably is. The Cayenne GTS is more than that, it’s the ultimate Porsche SUV. In the U.S., the Cayenne proves Americian’s lust for SUVs as it is the best selling Porsche every year since it arrived.
With a top speed of 162 mph and a 0 to 60 mph time of 5.4 seconds, it can out muscle most cars on the road. It’s a 4,500 pound rocket ship. -
- Image Credit: BMW
BMW X5 M
Engine: 4.4-liter V-8 with twin turbochargers
Horsepower: 555
Torque: 500 pound-feet
Price: $85,700
This is no longer a sport utility, it’s a sport activity vehicle. The all-wheel drive X5M focuses on performance at every level. The xDrive system can move torque from front to rear axles, as well as from left to right wheel depending on all of the inputs a driver provides such as steering, speed, throttle inputs or braking.
The brakes are beefed up, the electronic damping control, 20-inch racing wheels and modified six-speed automatic transmission built for racers. It’s mad science wrapped up in a beautifully aggressive package of metal and glass. -
- Image Credit: Maserati
Maserati Kubang
Engine: Unknown
Horsepower: Unknown
Torque: Unknown
Price: Not released, expect $100,000 plus
Don’t expect this exotic luxury SUV to have a name that sounds like an explosion when it arrives in the coming years, but the Kubang should do for Maserati what the Cayenne does for Porsche: Make it family ready. But instead of that concise German design, the Kubang will arrive with that Italian artistry that lives in the soul of thoroughbred supercars.
While Maserati has not said what engine will come with this SUV or its price, expect it to come from Ferrari and have lots of power and something well over $100,000. -
- Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG
Engine: 5.5-liter biturbo
Horsepower: 544
Torque: 560 pound-feet
Price: Not released: Expect around $100,000
One-tenth of a second faster than the Porsche Cayenne GTS in the 0-60 sprint, the all new G63 AMG is a combination of German muscle and power.
It’s rugged looks make this beast look as if its invading rather than cruising and its 544 horses under the hood remind everyone who is in charge with every rumble. It’s pure pleasure, packed with leather, high tech driver assist features and lots of head room. It arrives in the U.S. this fall.
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- Image Credit: Land Rover
Range Rover Sport HSE
Engine: 5-liter V-8 supercharged
Horsepower: 510
Torque: 461 pound-feet
Price: $75,245
Range Rovers have earned their reputation to go just about anywhere in pure luxury. The Range Rover Sport can go anywhere faster.
The supercharged V-8 under the clam shell hood lets this supercharged SUV go from zero to 60 mpg in 5.9 seconds. It’s air suspension provides superior capabilities for off-roading, though this beauty deserves to stay on highways.
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- Image Credit: Chrysler
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8
Engine: 6.4-liter V-8
Horsepower: 470
Torque: 465 pound-feet
Price: $60,960
All-wheel drive, tons of torque and the biggest Hemi engine ever made -- what’s not to love? This is also one of the few racing SUVs that can keep with the likes of Porsche, BMW and Range Rover. The new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 arrives on the new Grand Cherokee platform that’s stiff enough to handle the power and strong enough to hand any corner.
Add to that a stellar interior and this SUV is the complete package of high performance and luxury. -
- Image Credit: Ford
Ford Explorer Sport
Engine: 3.5-liter twin turbocharged direct injection V-6
Horsepower: 350
Torque: 350 pound feet
Price: Not released, expect $40,000+
Ford Motor Co. tried to dazzle people with its fuel sipping 2-liter I-4 EcoBoost engine that gave the 2012 Explorer up to 28 mpg on the highway with the redesigned Explorer.
But the newest edition to the family touts a 350 horsepower engine and four-wheel drive with an terrain selecting system that will make driving over any surface a breeze. Though the best thing to race this SUV on will likely be asphalt. -
