We were invited to attend the South African debut of the Urus at Lamborghini’s new dealership in Century City, Cape Town this week, and the supercar-maker’s first SUV in more than 25 years definitely looks set to be a sales success.

Automobili Lamborghini Chairman and CEO Stefano Domenicali opened proceedings with an interesting look into Lamborghini’s present and future. The Sant’Agata based firm is riding record sales highs and is not stopping there. It seems that they’re very intent on exploring the electrification of the automobile. It’s also not implausible that its normally aspirated V10 and V12 powerplants could be aided by electric motors in the near future.

With the game-changing Urus, Lamborghini has also doubled the floor space at its factory in Italy in just over a year in anticipation of the high demand likely to be placed on manufacturing capacity as the company explores other vehicle niches and new markets (its vehicles are currently available in 50 countries). The investment is founded by quiet confidence in the marque’s global appeal, and no doubt order books filling up before they could even get the Urus rolling off the line after the model made its international debut late last year.

“We are very excited to open our first new corporate identity showroom in the Middle East and Africa region in this beautiful city of Cape Town,” Domenicali said.

It’s also reassuring to hear that supercars like the Huracan and Aventador will continue to be at the core of Lamborghini’s portfolio – and there are no plans to introduce forced induction. This means that the screaming naturally aspirated engines synonymous with the brand will be around for a while yet.

The first Urus on South African soil was kitted out in optional extras that took its asking price up to a cool R4.8 million from the R3.5 million base. It was a sight to behold, what with 22-inch alloys front and rear wrapped in super-wide Pirelli tyres, a gaping maw of a front end, and enough sharp angles and to make fighter jets look tame by comparison.

While the styling is something we’ve all come to expect from Lamborghini, the Urus’ high ground clearance and spaciousness is something new for the brand. Inside, the jet fighter cockpit theme that’s been a common theme over the last decade or so doesn’t disappoint and adds an air of ferocity.

Under the bonnet lies a twin-turbo charged 4.0-litre V8 motor that produces 478 kW at 6 000 r/min and 850 N.m of torque at just 2 250 r/min. These outputs place it in a league of its own in terms of what we’ve come to expect from fast SUVs. Lamborghini claims a top speed of 305 km/h, with the 0-200 km/h sprint happening in just 12.8 seconds.

The first deliveries are expected to start in October this year.