Lamborghini

To the average non-car person, the idea of a Lamborghini SUV straddles the fence between preposterous and blasphemous. Of course, those of us in the know (or those who read the recent feature on this site) know that a trail-ready Lambo is hardly unprecedented. However, the Italian supercar constructor has gone without an off-roader – concept or production – since the last LM002 rolled out of the factory in 1993.

That’s about to change, however. After years of “Will they or won’t they?” conjecture, Lamborghini is going to show the Urus (which is officially just a concept at this point) at next week’s Beijing Auto Show. And while the exact mechanical specifications are still unknown, we do know what it will look like thanks to the photos you see here being leaked. (Whether the leak was intentional or not is up for debate.)

Not too long ago, I popped Need for Speed: Underground, one of my very first racing games, into my Gamecube just for kicks. Having considered myself to be a car enthusiast for a number of years now, I was curious to see how far the tuning scene had come. I really wish I had some screenshots to show you just how much my own interpretation of “cool” has changed. My entire stable of Underground cars rocked wild metallic paint jobs, tear/stripe vinyls, neon, and planet-sized chrome wheels.

My lasting impression of Hot Import Nights was that the cars that turned up were all somewhat like my virtual Underground garage – most show, little go. I fully expected to see some Lambo doors on cars that weren’t Lamborghini’s and maybe even hear the distinctive plume of nitrous purging. How things have changed. HIN has matured and grown up in time with our scene and even with the closure of Irwindale Speedway, the show had to go on.

The Geneva Motor Show is one of the auto industry’s best-known rites of Spring. Every March, the motoring world converges on the lakeside Swiss metropolis to gawk at all the new models (vehicular and otherwise) on neutral ground. It’s absolutely one of the crown jewels of the international auto show calendar.

And because it’s such a prestigious show, the manufacturers tend to bring their best production and concept cars to the Geneva Palexpo. This means picking out the best of the best is a mighty daunting task, which is why we’ve decided to expand the field to 25. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s hop to it.