TWO SOON

IN THE 1980S, THE LAMBORGHINI LM002 ACCURATELY FORETOLD THE RISE OF EXOTIC SUVS, FOUR-DOOR PICKUP TRUCKS, AND LAMBORGHINI'S OWN BESTSELLING MODEL, THE URUS.

- EZRA DYER

WAS ANY CAR MORE AHEAD OF ITS TIME THAN THE LAMBORGHINI LM002?

In its day, the LM002 was a freak, an epic miscalculation by a brand that really couldn't afford a dud. Now it looks like clairvoyance: the original exotic luxury SUV, two or three decades too early. Today almost every sports-car company builds a six-figure overpowered utility vehicle, and even the LM002's odd-for-its-day form-four-door, short-bed pickup truck-is the default body style for America's most popular mode of transportation. The LM002 didn't just predict the Bentley Bentayga and the Ferrari Purosangue; it was a harbinger of the fleet of 400-plus-horsepower crew-cab pickups that are now considered practical family transportation across the land. It should have been an instant hit, the LM002. To try to find out why it wasn't, we traveled to Lamborghini's headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese to drive a 1989 LM002 alongside its spiritual successor, the 2023 Urus Performante.