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Sunday Drive by Hormazd Sorbajee: Why Lambo’s slowest car is India’s fastest Lambo
The biggest phenomenon of the car world this century is the inexorable rise of SUVs
The biggest phenomenon of the car world this century is the inexorable rise of SUVs. You have them in all shapes and sizes, for every occasion and every purpose. Even true-blue sports car makers like Porsche, Maserati and Lamborghini have embraced this high-riding body type which is the antithesis of the sleek, low-slung sports cars these storied brands originally built their legacy and reputation on. Ferrari,, too, has just launched its first ever SUV which, not long ago, was anathema to the famous Italian marque. It shows that even hallowed brands have no sacred cows left but have succumbed to what is the cash cow of the car market.
The sports car SUV
But there’s another world out there which both Porsche and Lamborghini are exploring. Instead of just making SUVs that think they are sports cars, why not also make sports cars that think they are SUVs? Porsche and Lamborghini have done just that. They’ve taken their low riding, ground-hugging sports cars, jacked them up and slapped on chunky all-terrain tyres and protective underbody steel plates that are more fit for an SUV than a sports car. Porsche was the first to kick off this new trend with the 911 Dakar, which is tribute to the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally-winning 911 and certainly looks the part. Porsche have made only 2,500 911 Dakars, but the bad news is that India hasn’t a single unit allocated from this limited production.
Lamborghini has taken a leaf out of Porsche’s Dakar playbook with the Huracán Sterrato, which actually was conceived as a concept back in 2018. It’s a supercar designed for maximum driving pleasure not on the road, but off it, and is designed to bring out not the race, but the rally driver in you. No, it’s not meant to be an SUV to go rock climbing in, but you can slide it wildly on dirt roads, tail hanging out, world rally style.
The production of the Huracán Sterrato is even less than the 911 Dakar. Not more than 1,499 Sterratos will be made in total. However, unlike the Dakar, the Sterrato is officially available in India, launched at ₹4.61 crore. The bad news is that only 15 units have been allocated to India and they’ve all been snapped up by Indian customers. That’s not surprising because the Sterrato is the ideal Huracán derivative for India.
Bad roads blaster
What Lamborghini has inadvertently created is the most relevant and appropriate super sports car for India, because it’s got the two key ingredients that supercars in India have so far struggled without: ground clearance and beefy tyres.
The Sterrato, with its raised suspension and jacked-up ride height has a ground clearance of 171mm, which is a massive 44mm more than a standard Huracán Evo. This means no more having to tippy-toe over speed breakers or worry about damaging the low front chin. You also don’t have to worry about a tyre blowout, a common problem with supercars in India, every time you hit a pothole or are forced to drop your wheels off the road. The chunky all-terrain tyres with their beefy sidewalls are just what you need to tackle bad Indian roads.
The 5.2-litre, naturally-aspirated V10 engine is the same as in the Huracán, but produces only 610hp in the Sterrato, 30hp down on the Huracán Evo. That’s because the air intakes, moved from the sides to a big duct in the roof to keep dust out, restricts power. The interiors are like a Huracán, but what’s unique is the Alcantara Verde Sterrato upholstery on the seats. The driver’s display gets a compass, a steering angle indicator, and a digital inclinometer.
The Sterrato top speed has been capped at 260 kph because of the limitations of the off-road tyres. This makes the Sterrato the slowest Lambo in decades. However, in the real world, it’s probably the fastest, simply because you don’t have to brake to a crawl every time you encounter a speed breaker or hit a bad patch of road. The Sterrato with its rugged mechanicals and jacked up stance is possibly the quickest way to get from point A to B in India.
The views expressed by the columnist are personal
From HT Brunch, December 24, 2022
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