Visiting the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata is an experience every car enthusiast should enjoy at least once in their lifetime … once you enter the factory tour you are emerged into a world of automotive craftsmanship that has been perfected over the last 50+ years.
In most car factories you will encounter countless robots making sure every car is exactly the same as the previous one … and the next one … however at Lamborghini every car is just that little bit different … because it is still being built by hand on one of the two production lines in Sant’Agata … one for the Huracán LP610-4 and one for the V12 flagship, the Aventador LP700-4 and LP750-4.
At the assembly line the Lamborghini employees with a black ‘Produzione’ shirt perform a shift from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening from Monday to Friday … however those that are working in the Carbon Fiber plant work in three shift to keep up with demand.
Just about every employee at Automobili Lamborghini SpA receives a stylish black shirt with their department writing in gold on the back, Produzione for the production work force, Prototipo for the interesting prototype building department … other possibilities are logistics for instance.
Lamborghini proud themselves on having in-house training programs, those that are working on the assembly line do not remain at their station all the time, they are continually trained on other jobs during their career at Lamborghini, one day you could be fitting seats inside an Aventador … the next day you are building the legendary V12 engine … if you passed all the stages on the factory floor you might even be eligible for the job of test driver and follow in the footsteps of the legendary Valentino Balboni and Bob Wallace.
But back to the factory tour … during a guided group visit you are able to admire the various steps it takes to build a Lamborghini from the chassis up to the completely finished car while each body it taken from station to station at a fixed time interval, in fact there is a clock displayed constantly showing how long the cars have been sitting at a station … this allows the production work force to keep an eye on their timing table … on the entire assembly line there are only two robots to be found … one to lower the body onto the line and a second one to rotate the entire car on her side to allow easier access during assembly … everything else is done by hand.
At the moment there is no paint booth at the factory in Sant’Agata, both the Huracán and the Aventador bodies are pre-painted outside of the Lamborghini factory grounds at Carrosseria Imperiale a few Miles away from Lamborghini … note that one single person paints an entire Lamborghini by himself to make sure the paint is applied consistently all over that specific car.
After painting and the necessary correction to make the finish absolutely flawless a plastic bag is used to cover the entire Lamborghini during the transport from Imperiale to Lamborghini, once arrived at the factory the plastic bag is removed and custom made protection panels are mounted before the Raging Bull is put in station 1 of the corresponding assembly line … for the Aventador that means 12 stations for 90 minutes each, in case of the Huracán there are 23 stations at 40 minutes each.
Hence it takes 18 hours to build an Aventador (just over two days) and 15 hours and 20 minutes to put together the Huracán (nearly two days), note that in the near future the Lamborghini Urus production line will be added to the factory, the extension for this is being built on the grounds behind the current production lines in fact.
Parts for the famous Lamborghini V12 and V10 engines are built externally as Lamborghini does not operate their own foundry, but these parts are built to very, very specific specs and once arrived at Lamborghini the engine is assembled by hand before each and every unit is rigorously tested to make sure the power is available before the engine is ‘joined’ with her body.
A very large selection of leather hides is available to the in house upholstery shop where the stunning seats, dashboard, door panels and other interior panels are created to the exact specs listed by the customer … through the Ad Personam program the customization options for each Lamborghini are only limited by the imagination of the customer … and his bank account.
Do note that every ‘out of spec’ option does have to be approved by the Lamborghini Ad Personam director … and while just about everything is possible, sometimes requests are refused in fact … like ordering a bright white leather for the top of the dashboard in an Aventador Roadster … due to the massive reflection under sunlight such a request would be denied … sometimes the Ad Personam director has to protect the customer from himself.
The upholstery of a Lamborghini usually is made up from smooth Italian leather, but these days you can combine that with the best quality Alcantara, Carbon Fiber and the new Forged Composite … that is why every single seat and panel destined for the same car is being put into a ‘light street’ with high intensity light to make sure the parts fit together perfectly when it comes to consistency in color and finish … only after passing this control step will the interior be released onto the assembly line.
On the actual assembly line you will notice some sheets being taped onto each car … that’s the actual option list for that specific car, at most stations during the production there will be a terminal where the employee can verify exactly how he has to install the parts for that specific car, no margin for error here because once the car is finished she still has a long way to go before being sent to the dealer and being delivered to the customer.
At the end of the assembly line each car is started for the first time to be driven into the first test area where quality and fitment of parts is meticulously checked … even lasers come into play here to make sure the Raging Bull meets the expectations of the customer.
Up next is a 40 minute stint on the test bench … being virtually driven at 180 Km/h on rolls to make sure everything works, there are no leaks and no overheating issues … every button and light is tested during this check … if a Lamborghini comes out of this booth with a clean bill of health she is ready for the road.
That’s right … every Lamborghini is taken onto the public roads around the factory for a real life test drive … if you visit the factory in Sant’Agata make sure to spend some time at the exit gate for these test drives … in a matter of minutes you will see just about every model being built at the moment … and with a bit of luck even a glimpse of future models, as they also have to be tested on the open road and are usually hiding underneath current production models … but a keen eye will be able to notice ‘something weird’ going on … those are the test mules.
So if you have the chance of being near Sant’Agata do make sure to book a visit to the official Lamborghini Museum and try to get a place in the guided factory tour … it is an experience you’ll never forget.
