LAMBORGHINI URUS SE

Electrification has become inevitable even for the Rambo Lambo

- ILLYA VERPRAET

When Mini electrified its previous-generation hatchback, it called it the Cooper SE in most markets but decided to go simply with Electric in the UK in order to avoid confusion with what was a common trim level name.

Lamborghini has no such qualms with its new Urus SE, which isn't a fleet-friendly version with 17in wheels and cloth seats but effectively the facelift of the Italian brand's controversial but predictably successful SUV.

Like the Bentley Continental GT Speed that we reviewed last week (with which it shares its platform and a drivetrain), the Urus has also become a plug-in hybrid. So I suppose it does actually make more sense as a company car than before.

However, the 37-mile electriconly range and low official CO2 emissions aren't the primary improvements Lamborghini's people are trying to draw my attention to as they throw me straight into a 'drift experience'. The exciting stuff here is that instead of the old Torsen centre differential, there's now a fully variable clutch pack to proactively send power forward and backwards. It works together with the electronic limitedslip differential at the back to effectively do torque vectoring.

The engineers say it works predictively, so that if you hoof it out of a corner with the stability control off, it assumes that you want to go sideways and pushes a load of power to the outside rear wheel. Indeed, it will gladly smoke its tyres until they violently expire. It always feels like there's a lot of weight in play (because there is, at around two and a half tonnes), and the fourwheel drive system will try to pull you out of a drift if you counter-steer too much, but it's a neat trick.

We will need more quality time on the road to really say how that all translates, because the roads around the Nardò proving ground in Italy, where Lamborghini chose to launch the Urus SE, could hardly have been more uninspiring.