Italian super-sports carmaker Automobili Lamborghini has told the Financial Express that it concluded its best six months ever to the end of June 2022 in terms of sales, turnover and profitability.
Global car deliveries stood at 5,090 units (4.9% growth), turnover reached €1.33 billion (an increase of 30.6% over the first six months of 2021), and operating profit was up 69.6% (from €251 million to €425 million).
“The step up in profitability in the first half of the year was driven by an increase in volumes, product mix, higher customisation and positive exchange rates,” Stephan Winkelmann, chairman & CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, told FE.
“We have come to the end of an exceptional first half of the year, despite ongoing uncertainty caused by the geopolitical situation. The outlook is positive, with orders taken already covering the whole of 2023 production.”
Sales split and tiny Indian market
In H1CY22, the US was the top market for Lamborghini (1,521 units sold), followed by Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau (576), Germany (468), the UK (440), and the Middle East (282).
While the carmaker didn’t share the number of units it sold in India in H1CY22, it had sold a mere 69 units in 2021, 37 in 2020, 52 in 2019 and 45 units in 2018.Lamborghini began its India operations in 2007, in partnership with a single dealer.
Now it has three dealers (Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai), and its car parc (cumulative sales) is a little over 400 units.“India is a tiny market in terms of size, no doubt, but in terms of percentage growth we are performing very well,” Winkelmann said.
“India has high taxation for imported cars, and that is limiting the number of cars sold there. In the near future, the market size will remain small, but growth numbers will remain good.”He added that, in the past, poor road infrastructure in the country limited the growth of super-sports cars. “We are looking to expand out dealer network, but the biggest challenge we see is in terms of taxation,” he said.
Currently, India imposes 100% duty on fully imported cars with CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value more than $40,000, and 60% on those costing less than that. Local registration charges are added onto that value.
China, on the other hand, levies 15% import duties on cars, down from 25% it used to levy until June 30, 2018.That makes Lamborghini cars in India doubly as expensive as compared to most global markets. The Urus SUV, for example, costs upwards of Rs 4 crore in India, on-road, and limited edition models like the Aventador Ultimae Roadster can cost about Rs 10 crore (including customisation).
When asked if Lamborghini can touch the 100-sales figure in India this year, Winkelmann replied: “100 is not an important number for us, it may come this year or next year, but quality of sales and customer satisfaction is what we will aim at.”As far as model split is concerned, the Urus Super SUV was responsible for 61% of global sales while the Huracán and Aventador super-sports cars (the latter of which is reaching the end of production) accounted for 39%. Among the new products this year, a warm reception was given to the Huracán Tecnica, which was unveiled in April: the rear-wheel drive model with a new design and a latest-generation V10 engine delivers fun-to-drive performance on both road and track, the carmaker said.
Starting in August, there will be three new product announcements this year: two regarding Urus and one Huracán.Last year, Lamborghini had announced the ‘Direzione Cor Tauri’ plan, under which during 2021-22 it will focus on development of internal combustion engines for models that pay tribute to the brand’s history, in 2023 the first hybrid model will be launched and the entire range will be electrified by the end of 2024, and the first full electric Lamborghini will be launched in the second half of the decade.
“We will go electric first with daily-use cars like the Urus, and super-sports cars like the Aventador and the Huracán will continue to be powered by petrol for as long as possible, and then hybrid and eventually electric,” Winkelmann said.
