Prestige off-roaders tackle new terrain

Lamborghini also chose China to launch its Urus SUV. Rather awkwardly its stand was next to sister marque Bentley, whose EXP9 F SUV stole the headlines of the Geneva Show for the wrong reasons. So when the covers came off the Urus, it wasn’t hard to draw unflattering comparisons between the sleek and stylish Lambo and the rather courageous Bentley.

I still don’t like the idea of these vast machines, but it’s not just Bentley and Lamborghini: Maserati has made one too and Aston martin is strongly rumoured to be going down a similar road. Only Rolls-Royce and Ferrari continue to resist. The imperative is easy to see: in places like China and Russia, these things sell. Put it this way, when the Urus goes on sale in 2015, it will triple Lamborghini’s output all by itself. Under the circumstances, these companies can hardly be blamed for pursuing them.