2018 Lamborghini Urus spy pics

SAY it isn’t so! Is this plain-Jane, almost conventionally proportioned SUV really the upcoming Lamborghini Urus?

Spy shots have lobbed into the Wheels inbox showing what is believed to be the Italian supercar brand’s reborn SUV, showing much dumpier proportions than the concept car that wowed us five years ago.

The high waist and extremely shallow glasshouse mimic that of the 2011 Urus concept. But instead of something resembling an Aventador on stilts, our twin-turbo V8-powered prototype Urus comes across as a chop-top Audi Q7, losing much of the concept’s long, shallow fastback look.

There’s the obvious nods to what Lamborghini claims will be the world’s most powerful SUV, though. Radiators sit behind two deep, trapezoidal air intakes, which in turn frame a shark mouth-like slit set with hexagonal shapes that runs across almost the entire width of the air-gulping nosecone.

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Also standing out is what appears to be a radar sensor, suggesting the Urus may perform better as a distance-chewing grand tourer rather than an out-and-out performance behemoth.

There’s a few cues that carry across from the concept, including off-round wheel arches that give the impression that the Urus is moving forward even when it is stopped, and the rear quarter window that forms a sharp point on the remarkably thin D-pillar.

Noticeable, too, is a distinct bulge low on the nose where the Lamborghini badge will sit. Down the rear, the quad exhausts are still pushed right to the edge of the body, but sit a lot lower than the concept’s. But there is what appears to be a strip that stretches across the entire width of the tailgate to visually connect the tail-lights that frame each rear guard accentuated by a wraparound cabin.

The Urus concept sits on a set of huge alloy wheels wrapped in liquorice strip-thin Pirelli boots. It looks as though they need to be that size; inside sits what appear to be cross-drilled carbon ceramic brakes wrapped in huge calipers for the front wheels, and decent-sized ones for the rears.

We’re likely to get our first look at the production version of the Lamborghini Urus at September’s Frankfurt motor show as part of the Volkswagen Group showcase held a day before Europe’s German car show opens its doors. But being Lamborghini, the supercar maker could go all out and launch the Urus at a time and place of its own calling. Watch this space.