In calendar year 2022, the Italian super sports carmaker Automobili Lamborghini sold 9,233 cars worldwide, an increase of 10% over the previous year.
The Indian market, however, contributed just 1% to global sales, with 92 cars sold in 2022.
But this number is a significant increase of 33% over a year earlier sales of 69 cars.
Prior to that, Lamborghini had sold 37 cars in 2020, 52 cars in 2019 and 45 cars in 2018.
Sharad Agarwal, head of Lamborghini India, recently told FE that while the numbers may be small in India, the country is the fastest growing market globally for the super sports carmaker. “In calendar year 2021, we sold 69 cars, at a growth rate of 86% over the Covid-19-impacted 2020,” he said. “We are trying to bring global models to India as fast as possible. For example, when the Urus SUV was launched globally, India was one of the world’s top five markets to get the car. For the Huracan Evo, India was the first market that got the car after the global launch.”
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Last year, Stephan Winkelmann, the chairman & CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, had told FE that India is a tiny market in terms of size, but in terms of percentage growth it is performing very well. “India has high taxation on imported cars, and that is limiting the number of cars sold,” Winkelmann had said. “In the near future, the market size will remain small relative to other countries, but growth numbers will remain good.”
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 the amount. 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.
Its cars—the Urus, the Huracan and the Aventador, with their numerous variants—are priced upwards of Rs 4 crore, and with customisation that most buyers opt for, prices can reach Rs 7-8 crore.
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As far as global sales are concerned, the United States was Lamborghini’s largest market (2,721 cars sold), followed by Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong & Macau (1,018 cars), Germany (808 cars), the United Kingdom (650 cars) and Japan (546 cars).
In terms of models, the Urus Super SUV led the way (5,367 units sold), followed by the Huracán (3,113 units) and the Aventador (753 units).