Ferruccio LAMBORGHINI

Mimran's: Countach, Jalpa, LM002... and additional Power boats

 

The Mimran era of Lamborghini is the very basis for the company's current existence, he turned a bankrupt company into a viable one, and provided a foundation for the brand's growth and emergence into what it is today.

 

After the Mimran era, it’s well-known that Chrysler and Megatech were simply victims of global economic woes, and, had it not been for the establishment of brand in the Mimran era, the company might have gone bankrupt yet again. In fact, Lamborghini survived those lean years until Audi acquired it, precisely because of the foundation Mimran built, as this ensured the company’s survivability.

Sure, Audi has made the biggest investment to date, that’s obvious, but still, the Mimran era made it all possible, because Audi inherited an established brand, and that’s the very basis for their substantial investment.

To explain it better, the Mimran era is not only when the company returned to being a viable multi-car factory, but when it gained international recognition & prominence, and thus became an established brand. Mimran started from zero and by the mid-80s every young man had a Countach poster on their wall and the brand was established in the hearts & minds of enthusiasts everywhere, to the point that CBS’s 60 Minutes produced a now-famous Lamborghini documentary. Incidentally, the mid-80s is when I was first inspired by the brand’s popularity and purchased my first Countach.

The success of Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA was entirely earned and built-step-by-step, in fact, Mimran purchased the factory in 1981 in difficult global economic times. The company’s profitability had nothing to do with the lack of previous poor management ripping off the company, and everything to do with planning, persistence, hard work, promotion, and great products. Another key to the company’s success was Emile Navarro who Mimran brought with him to oversee the existing management, the former having worked for the Mimran family for years overseeing their interests in West Africa & Europe.

FWIW I touched on Patrick Mimran’s role in establishing the brand in the article in Classic & Sports Car’s July 2017 edition, after speaking to him at length on several occasions about his tenure with Lamborghini. He mentioned that I was the first person to speak directly to him about Lamborghini since he sold it to Chrysler 30 years ago. Unfortunately, due to editing constraints, there wasn't enough space for me to share all we discussed, including stories such as his working side-by-side with workers till 4am trying to get a Geneva showcar ready! All that and more upcoming @ another venue.

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It’s clear even from reading this one page transcript that Mimran was a savvy businessman with a focused plan. Hard to doubt his success with Lamborghini.

 

Fwiw a certain V8 researcher had already made contact with him about the several Jalpas used by various members of the family...

 

I actually spoke to two very well-known ranking factory "insiders" of the Mimran era, real people who lived it from inside the factory, and their sentiments about multiple things matched Patrick's.

Magazine publications do tend to have a broadcast news style, but all is good so far as the piece is genuine, the essence remains the same.

Bear in mind also, the piece is Patrick's own view about his company, and whilst he made the decisions he did seemingly with no regrets, I feel sure he understands that others will feel free to view or interpret things differently. That said, I got the impression that he's not one to lose any sleep over this one way or the other.

Patrick says he's never discussed Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA as a company with intent to allow a publication, since he sold it to Chrysler 30 years ago. Doubtless, he's spoken to people about individual cars before I spoke to him, but this is the first published piece post-1987 on his feelings about his tenure @ Lamborghini by the man himself. I'm proud to have made it happen because it took a little convincing, this is not a man who wants or needs to seek the limelight...

 

I’m sure that article won’t hurt you as a salesman either Joe.

 

Patrick’s view is matter-of-fact and underscored by the statistics of his tenure, as opposed to being based on personal feelings or any concern for his popularity. He could care less about the latter, let me assure you, he was there as CEO in the capacity of a businessman to rescue Lamborghini and revitalize the company.

His view, which I obviously agree with, is that he purchased a bankrupt company at poor economic time in 1981 and took a big risk (everybody told him he was nuts paying $3m for the company’s debts at that time). Within 6 years, he took the Countach to the 5-liter car it was intended to be, and he added viable Jalpa & LM002 lines. He encouraged bespoke facilitation and developed Lamborghini Motori Marini, taking Lamborghini to World Championship status in offshore powerboat racing. From a PR standpoint, Lamborghini’s presence in F1 with the pace cars and later in WC offshore racing heightened its profile amongst sporting enthusiasts everywhere. He travelled the world tirelessly promoting Lamborghini, and more importantly, establishing a viable commercial distribution network, ensuring that the important USA, Middle East and Far East markets were catered to.

In summation, his view is simply that he purchased a bankrupt company assembling FIATS to keep the lights on for $3m, and sold an Internationally-desirable, fully-functioning, profitable sports car factory with 3 lines for $30m. The aforementioned are all indisputable measurable facts, and his view is simply based on a review of the facts.

If you get to know Patrick, you will soon learn he is not a particularly sentimental man, unfazed by what others might think, and this is underscored by his decision to also sell his entire collection of cars and move on to other things in life. This reclusive man spends little time looking in the rear-view mirror, and I consider getting him to go on the record in an International magazine publication to be a small coup.

Along the way whilst Mimran accomplished what he did, if a factory insider wasn’t happy or saw things differently, that doesn’t change what was accomplished. That said, one of the two well-known factory insiders I spoke to is on the record explicitly stating that PM was “the best boss” he had - not that this has any bearing on the essence of what PM factually accomplished with Lamborghini.

Indeed I am a salesman amongst other things, so I’d be remiss to not bear in mind what compliments my endeavors, for example, the publication of books has helped immensely, magazine articles do also, so I can only take your comment as a compliment.

 

Pretty much hard facts, also after reading Toninos book ,the Italian unions and the likes ,did not exactly make it easy to run a factory like Lamborghini,and as we all know beeing in bussiness , your employees always know better, probably a few popping out of the woodworks with their big mouth,in the aftermath of Mimrans adventure . Long story short, he was gold to Lamborghini. The fact he also was able to make a few bucks,speaks volumes.

 

Just to clearify, absolutely no intention to compare Mimrans leadership to Ferruccio,s, He was The man,who started and executed an amazing part of automotive history,my hero,make no mistake about it. The 80s came and he was out of Lamborghini, along came Mimran with Much needed cash and willing to listen to ideas, wich imo gave the brand as a bussines,a new lease on life.

 

Great story! And what an original car.

I love the keyfob by the way!

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FWIW, Mimran's view of his tenure is as already stated, is based on a review of the facts, without pretense or opinion, as is the the review of what happened with Chrsler & Megatech, as such, a reporting on same is not at all outdated or simplistic, its simply to-the-point.

The fact that Chrysler spent $60m on Lamborghini and did not enjoy the same level of upside profit upon the sale of the works was entirely up to them and their management decisions, and, more importantly, has no bearing on the Mimran era. If anything, it shows how successful Mimran was.

A couple of corrections to the outdated yet apparently still often-parroted version of the Mimran story, Patrick was CEO of Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA and Jean-Claude had zero influence or involvement in the company, and no participation in the sale of the company, this much has been confirmed by Mimran.

There was no concern about Patrick by Jean-Claude, that notion is incorrect, often suggested by people who have little knowledge about Patrick, the same people who dismissed him as a young jet-setter, just because of his wealth. Patrick had developed a serious interest in cars, amassing a serious Ferrari collection, tried to buy a Countach circa 1980, and the rest, as they say, is history. His involvement in Lamborghini was a natural thing, entirely his own making, and was not instigated his brother, as is often erroneously claimed by some people, none of which have actually checked in with the Mimrans.

The reason Patrick was not always at Sant Agata was simply because he travelled the world constantly, promoting Lamborghini, and establishing a viable commercial distribution network for the USA, Europe, Middle East and Far East. Having his own man Emile Novaro to keep an eye on things whilst he was gone, was key. FWIW, the latter's management was so successful that Chrysler kept him on.

As regards initiative and ideas, Patrick made it clear that his job number one was to get the Countach to the 5-liter car it was intended to be, and he was the one who spearheaded the initiative to have a smaller V8 car alongside the Countach. He encouraged bespoke facilitation, and the idea to develop Lamborghini Motori Marini was entirely his. To say he simply listed to Italian management's ideas is not what happened, even though some might like to portray it that way to minimize his success and fulfill their own agendas. Put it this way, as any successful businessman knows, you don't accomplish the results Patrick did by being passive and simply responding to other people's ideas.

Interestingly, one of the reasons Patrick was reluctant to be quoted by the press when I contacted him, is exactly what is going on here in this thread - food for thought. Yet still, I'm glad we got in touch and my role as a messenger of reality is one I am happy to continue to facilitate. Clearly, he saw the benefit in correcting some erroneous notions about his tenure, that's why he agreed to let me share his real story.

By the way, if you are ever going to publish an objective book, for the sake of a complete, balanced & fair perspective, you should also interview Patrick Mimran himself.

Lastly, apologies to for taking the Ferruccio thread off-topic, but, we can thank you for that with your post where you mistakenly asserted that there had not been 3 lines since the Rosetti/Leimer days https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/145689999/ and Raymond had to come on and correct you https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/145690005/ thus ushering in the topic of Patrick Mimran!

With that said, everyone (Patrick included!) agrees that Ferruccio is the original hero for starting the dream https://www.instagram.com/p/BbVsJQoHmQR/?taken-by=joesackeyclassics

 

You are entirely correct in your suggestion that owning Patrick's Countach is the basis of my contacting him and subsequently sharing his story, I would have thought that was obvious, it was the natural thing to do for me, and I think others (yourself included) would have done the same were they in my fortunate position.

I consider it a privilege that Patrick not only responded to my contact and took the time to have multiple conversations with me from both Geneva and New York, but also agreed to allow me to publish his story in his own words. That was really something, because, for example, he did not accept your invitation, which underscores my representation of him as a reclusive & private person who does not seek the limelight. It's unfortunate that he decided not to speak to you, because, it would have been good for another person to corroborate what he shared with me, but, I got the impression that what he shared with me was probably going to be an exclusive. A year ago you indicated that people you have spoken to reviewed him favorably https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/144572411/ which doesn't surprise me.

I should say, my ownership of the Mimran Downdraft is not the only reason I contacted Patrick, I have always been fascinated by the men behind the machines, and I've contacted people whose cars I do not own or ever plan to, such as Walter Wolf, and others besides.

As regards your proposed book, I confess, I cannot wait because you have been talking about publishing this book for many years, thus building up our expectations, so naturally, I am excited to see it. I commend you for your not inconsiderable efforts.

One thing you may consider noting in your book is that Mimran took the factory from a production of @ 50 cars a year to @ 440 cars a year, @ 9 x production in 6 short years as by 1987 production was roughly @ 220 Countachs, 65 Jalpas and 155 LM002s. Given that the translated invoicing numbers for each of those cars respectively was @ $127,000, $65,000 and $110,000, he had built the concern into a nice little cottage industry.

As an aside, I should mention that even though escrow closed for Mimran's acquisition of Lamborghini on May the 23rd 1981 for 3,850,000,000 Lire (@ $3 million) after a probationary period originally intended to be 6 months under the auspices of Alessandro Artese, Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA took over on September the 1st 1980 (see below).

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One last comment, here below is the scene that Patrick observed in 1980 just pre-bankruptcy, rows of FIAT 127s, a dismal sight to be sure.

Back to Ferruccio.

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Thanks for these numbers, very interesting especially for the LM. The overall production number of the LM was just about 300, this means that more than half of it was produced in one single year.

 

And the rest, as they say, is history.