Lamborghini has pulled the cover off the newest iteration of its Huracán supercar and—as you might expect—it’s blisteringly fast and roars with the power of the Raging Bull. The new Huracán Sterrato, however, is in a whole new category: It’s built for off-roading.
Wait, what? Taking a quarter-million-dollar supercar off-road and getting it all scuffed up seems as wise as wearing a pricey pair of Italian leather shoes for a hiking trip. But wrap your head around it, because it will be revealed on November 30 in Miami, Florida. This new model is named appropriately, too: Sterrato is “dirt road” in Italian.
A supercar made to get dirty
Back in 2019, Lamborghini started teasing out information about the Huracán Sterrato with a concept car powered by the same 640-hp 5.2-liter hand-built engine from the current Huracán Evo trim. Most versions of the Huracán, including the newest Tecnica model (which sits just below the Evo on the model’s price scale), are crafted to grip asphalt and showcase its prowess on twisty roads with a low center of gravity. But the Sterrato will be more than a little extra.
While the Sterrato seems like a giant leap away from Lamborghini’s sweet spot of producing performance machines made to tear up asphalt, the company does have some legacy in the off-roading realm. After all, the brand’s Urus SUV does include a specific drive mode called Terra, made for driving in the dirt. Astonishingly, test driver Bob Wallace modified a Lamborghini Jarama and an Urraco and competed in desert rallies in 1973 and 1974.
Lamborghini released three videos today (watch them here) showing the Huracán Sterrato in action on the dirt, and it’s clear the supercar isn’t destined for slow, plodding rock crawling (although that would be a fantastic concept idea) but fast Baja desert driving, kicking up sand and dust.
Specs still under wraps
While the brand hasn’t confirmed any specs yet (stay tuned), we do know that the initial concept was displayed with 1.85 inches more ground clearance than the Evo. Considering that an Evo has only about five inches of ground clearance, that puts a Sterrato between 6.5 inches and 7 inches off the ground, which gives it nearly the same height as a Hyundai Santa Fe crossover. Increasing the distance between the dirt and the chassis improved the Sterrato’s approach angle by 1 percent and the departure angle by an impressive 6.5 percent, which means it can tackle tougher, uneven terrain with fewer instances of scraping the bumper.
With this new vehicle, Lamborghini seems to have its affluent finger on the pulse of the latest automotive trends, as off-roading and overlanding (camping while off-roading) have become uber-popular in the last few years with us commoners. The surprising part with the Sterrato is that the brand modified one of its coupes instead of adding more capability to the Urus SUV.
[Related: Behind the wheel of the thunderous Lamborghini Aventador]
Lamborghini isn’t the only luxury brand that has created a vehicle for the adventurous wealthy set. If Rolls-Royce can take its Cullinan SUV off road and win the inimitable 8-day Rebelle Rally and a driver in a Porsche 1956 can win the grueling Dakar rally overseas, it doesn’t seem out of the realm for Lamborghini to be next. Porsche, in fact, is upping the ante with a new 911 Dakar version, which will be equipped with all-wheel drive, robust all-terrain tires, and higher ground clearance than its standard 911; it’s scheduled for a reveal this week at the LA Auto Show.
With the Sterrato, Lamborghini claims the title of “first all-terrain super sports car with V10 engine and all-wheel drive” and while all of its models are available with AWD, none of its other sports cars are equipped for going off-road. It seems the Sterrato will hold onto that crown for the foreseeable future.
