Is Lambo on the way out..?

if economy picks up in US it ain't going to happen
US was the biggest market for lamborghini since so many years and is likely to be again in near future

my 0.02

 

I think the more important issue is to find out who wrote that for Roy
Eric

 

LMAO!

 

Hahaha!

 

IIRC BMW bought Land Rover in part to develop the SUV (X5) program and then sold it to Ford in 2000 after they were done.


Do you think Lamborghini will go the way of companies like Land Rover and Jaguar whose ownership bounced around and wound up with another non-eurpoean based company like Tata? Somewhere like the UAE perhaps? Historically speaking, Lamborghinin has been passed around quite a bit so we can say it's just another transitional phase for the company...

 

quote from another chatter:

"Since Audi now owns Lambo, its just a matter of time before Audi's flagship sports car will be faster and lighter than its Lambo brethren all while maintaining superior ergonomics and luxury over the once Italian marque."

 

No.

Is Lamborghini at a crossroads, or entering an era of change? Sure.

Not while Audi owns Lamborghini. These people are German, not retarded.

 

I'm sorry to say that, I don't think it will actually be "near".

 

Dear Lamborghinisti,

Well written post Roy but I think I'm with Emilio if the economy picks up. With the Greek debt crisis going on with Portugal and Spain nearing the edge...the US, once again will be a safe haven.

Sure...we have allot....really allot of sorting out to go, but our economy will bounce back and our American culture will kick in once again.....gotta have it!

We may in the future be competing for lot consignments with other countries...China, India but the US is still a valuable market and our "car culture" helps.


Shamile

Freeze....Miami Vice !

 

I agree, its going to take alot of time.

 

Must be a glitch in your "speel" check software LOL

 

With Volkswagen's purchase of Porsche, I would expect that the drive train technology debuted by Porsche in the 918 will not remain proprietary to Porsche. The technology shown by Porsche at the Geneva show would certainly aid both Audi and Lamborghini in meeting the new emissions and mileage standards.

 

I just spoke to Friend of mine who just came back from the factory. He was there for the 599 GTO unveiling. He said Lamborghini production line was quite dead compared to Ferrari.

 

ummmm, that's on purpose. You have to do that when you decide to stop building one type of car (Murci) and build another type (the next V12) in the same space where you used to build the one you're not building anymore.

At my friendly local Lamborghini retailer, times were thin for awhile, but now they're picking up again. They have a just-right showroom that's tasteful and elegant while still very friendly, and I can't see how their overhead is particularly extravagant. Tourists are welcome, not just for good manners' sake, but also because they know some squirrels eventually find a nut, and will vividly remember who was naughty or nice. Like any other exotic dealer, most of their volume is pre-owned. People willing to fork over $450k for a new car are rare, but people willing to pay half or a quarter of that for a squared-away used car are not nearly so rare.

Lambo isn't going away, not in our lifetime. The brand is just too valuable. Not many marques have been on kids' bedroom posters for 40 years, especially compared to the number of actual cars they make.

 

Roy, and others...

...just thinking out loud here, but what if Lambo was to introduce another "Jalpa" type car at the entry level of their model line-up -- one that could be flexible enough to both incorporate / share a good bit of technology from the sister brands and be tunable to meet CAFE requirements? Perhaps an 8-cyl. based vehicle would compete well with other brands in that sport-car segment (i.e., Vette, F430, Alfa 8C, M3, GranTurismo, etc.)?

 

chances are if they did that, the gallardo series will be seriously affected by this. The proper way is to build the estoque, mark it at a sub 200 msrp and move some volume there. There are plenty of markets where the practicality of a sedan coupled with the brand of the bull are priorities compared to the sports car market...

 

All they need is a volume $$$ car

It could either a Quattroporte competitor or a light unexpensive V8 or even V6 sports car ...

and we all know VAG is capable to manage that

 

Interesting discussion. I recently spoke with someone that has worked for Lamborghini for almost 20 years in the states. He actually believes that Vik Keuylian is responsible for quite a bit of Lamborghini's struggles since he gave cars away for pennies on the dime and screwed VW credit. I think the combination of all things mentioned thus far will contribute to Lamborghinis troubles in the states and world wide. They make amazing machines and I truly hope they survive and thrive.

 

IMO... Audi owning Lamborghini is the best decision and the best thing for Audi in a long time. Audi marque has earned itself another level higher in the technology and luxury products and has been accepted very well. I don't know the number, if Audi loosing money selling Lambos but what about the number of Audi's sold after becoming Lambo owner. I think that number is most important to Audi... Non of the Supercars makers alone make a lot of money. But the supercars are most important to stand as the highest in technology and image for the maker. I don't think the reason Mercedes Launched their supercar "the SLR " was to sell the SLR, but to show the world what Mercedes were capable of doing the highest tech. products and that to give customer confident on their mass. produced cars.

One of this day, these giant mass. car producers will buy out Bugatti, Pagani,... The same thing Fiat did it and great with Ferrari...

 

This is key - keeping overhead down and supply under control. They're just in a retraction period, probably for the next 2-3 years, as the world economy re-adjusts to a new lower equilibrium. The time where everyone was spending credit like drunken sailors and you could get 12 year financing on a young mortgage broker salary is done for now. If anything, early Gallardos have been surprisingly buoyant at $90-100k. They quickly fall to $120k then only slowly descend thereafter.

What makes me sad is that even in Vegas we lost our dealer and here there is a disproportionate number of late model Lambos. I see more Gallardos lately, but there was a period a few years ago where I'd see Murcis and Murci Roadsters with regularity.


Patpong - Bugatti's newest iteration is a complete VW/Audi creation. They've owned the brand for a while.

 

Hard to say the Lambo future; not only is the economy contracting, there is a sea change in the political correctness of expensive, gas-guzzling new cars. I know more than one luxury/exotic owner who eschews those cars now infavor of hybids or other more frugal cars.

In other words, the "image" buyer may no longer want the image, even if he/she has the money.

I think this hurts Lambo worse than some other marques, since the cars are more poseur than performance in many respects. The Gallardo was the reason I bought a Lambo. Better than the 360 in every way, and reliable to boot.

Then Ferrari came out with the 430, now the 458 Italia and the tweaked G just does not cut it.

Worse, IMO, is that Lambo refuses to engage in motorsports. All motorsports efforts go to Audi, and the R8 is basically the same as the G in terms of performance, with a motorsports pedigree.

I can say that I am not in the market for a Lambo, even though I have bought 3 new Gs and have a G currently that I love. The meteoric depreciation, lack of motorsports heritage, and flagging performance leave me cold on a new Lambo.

Finally, I guess I was too stupid to realize it going in, but I did not buy my G to dazzle chicks, valet park at "in" spots, etc., and it seems that far too much of the marketing and owner ranks really want the car for those reasons. I am actually embarassed by some of the Lambo owner antics I see from time to time - every bit as bad as the "gold chain" rep that I think has hurt the Corvette (which I also own).

While I think all new exotics are a waste of money, my current radar is in the MP4-12c, maybe 458, but not on anything Lambo.

 

IMO unless their US sales rise sharply it will be impossible to keep a US dealer network.

You can't run an entire US dealer network selling only 17 new cars a month.

 

Their marketing logic has been self-destructive, for sure. Maybe it's time to 'clean house'.