Lamborghini plans to join the Porsche 911 Safari with its own take on the high-riding supercar
This is not the first time we've seen a prototype of Lamborghini's high-riding Huracàn Sterrato, but with every passing month so we draw closer to its eventual reveal. This prototype, spied much closer to home in Italy, still has the same prototype hallmarks as the prototype seen in Lapland, but there are a few key differences to take away.
That's largely about some of the details missing, including tiny roof racks and skid-plates seen previously. Now it's obvious that the skid plates on that other prototype were temporary, but it remains to be seen whether a production-viable take on the same theme will be applied to the real thing.
> Is this a new Porsche 911 Safari?
Unlike the concept, the bodywork has not been widened, and so does without the composite add-on arches, and also looks to feature the front bumper from the contemporary Evo, not the Performanté of the concept.
From here things start to deviate from the show car, however, with the engine cover integrating a makeshift roof scoop, similar to the one as seen on the hardcore STO.
The wheels look to be a smaller set of multi-spoke units on chunkier tyres with reinforced sidewalls, however the production car might include a different design again, perhaps with a closer resemblance to the chunky five-spoke units as seen on the concept.
Under the rear deck will almost certainly sit the same 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine as in the Huracán Evo and Performante that came before. Final power and torque figures are still to be confirmed, but the concept retained the donor car’s setup which produced 631bhp, sent to all four wheels via a dual-clutch transmission. The standard Evo’s LDVI integrated vehicle dynamics system will also be fitted, likely with a new off-road mode that will vary the calibration of all its dynamic chassis elements from steering, suspension and the torque split.
If the notion of an off-roading, mid-engined supercar sounds a little unusual, it’s worth remembering that two of the greatest Rally and Rally Raid cars in history followed this template, namely the Lancia Stratos, and later the iconic Rothmans-liveried Porsche 959 that rose to fame by winning the 1986 Paris-Dakar.
The question of whether the Sterrato will be a series production model, or part of Lamborghini’s ‘few-of’ program like the Sian and Countach reboot remains to be seen. But either way, the era of the high-riding supercar looks to be on the horizon, and we’ve got no issue with that.
Keyword: High-riding Lamborghini Huracàn Sterrato spied again – the real sports utility vehicle