Lamborghini Urus Owner From Kerala Pays Rs 46 Lakh For “0007” Fancy Number
People buying expensive numbers for their expensive cars is not something new. We have come across several instances in the past where people have spent lakhs on fancy numbers for their new cars. A young entrepreneur from Kerala’s Kochi - Venu Gopalakrishnan - also did the same for his brand-new Lamborghini Urus SUV. He bought a fancy number for his SUV by spending Rs 46 lakh in an auction. Mr. Gopalakrishnan owns an IT company called Litmus7.
If you are wondering why this is big news, as people have been known to spend huge amounts on fancy number plates in the past—well, this is actually a record from Kerala, as this is the first time someone has spent such a huge amount on a fancy number in the state. This is the highest amount a fancy number has fetched to date in Kerala.
The owner of the Lamborghini Urus bought the number KL 07 DG 0007 for Rs 45.99 lakh at the Ernakulam Regional Transport Office. The number was put up for auction, and many contestants participated in the online bidding process. Before the Lamborghini, the previous highest bid reported in the state was Rs 31 lakh.
The newly issued 0007 number was offered to customers for an initial booking price of Rs 25,000. Five individuals had booked the same number, which triggered an auction. The auction took place on the Parivahan website of the Motor Vehicles Department on April 7.
As the bidding intensified, three out of five participants stepped back. Finally, Venu Gopalakrishnan, Founder of Litmus7, bid Rs 45.99 lakh and won the auction.
Lamborghini Urus
The Lamborghini Urus for which the fancy number was purchased is also special. It is probably the first Urus Performante in Kerala. The Urus Performante was officially launched in India in 2022. It is a refreshed version of the Urus that generates slightly more power than the older version.
The Performante has a coil spring setup that replaces the air suspension in the older version. However, the air suspension can still be found in the Urus S. The Urus Performante also replaced three off-road modes—Sabbia (Sand), Neve (Snow), and Terra (Mud)—with a single Rally mode. The SUV is also 20 mm lower, 16 mm wider, and 25 mm longer than the older model.
The SUV also features other cosmetic changes like cooling vents on the bonnet, an aggressive-looking front bumper, and a redesigned rear bumper. The design of the alloy wheels on the Urus Performante is also different from before.
The Lamborghini Urus Performante is powered by the same 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine that generates 666 PS and 850 Nm of peak torque. The Performante version generates 16 PS more power than the older version. The torque figures, however, remain the same.
The engine is mated to an automatic transmission, and the power is sent to all four wheels. This SUV is designed for performance and can go from 0–100 km/h in 3.3 seconds, which is impressive for an SUV that weighs over 2,000 kg. The price for a brand-new Lamborghini Urus Performante starts at around Rs 4.22 crore.
Other than the 0007, KL-07 DG 0001 was also put up for auction. Although it carried the highest booking price of Rs 1 lakh, it was sold for Rs 25.52 lakh.