2005 WAS A POSITIVE YEAR FOR AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI SPA

Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini SpA made 4.4 million Euro net profit in 2005.

Last year was a positive one for Audi owned Automobili Lamborghini, the Italian sportscar brand posting 4.4 million euro net profit, up from 4.1 million euros in 2004. The details were contained in Audi’s annual report, released yesterday, which revealed that the Bologna-based prestige brand achieved a turnover which totalled 243 million euros.

Lamborghini manufactured 1,436 cars last year, slightly down on 2004’s total of 1,678. The 5.0-litre V10 engined mid-size Gallardo sportscar accounted for 978 units (down from 1,294 in 2004) while the 6.2-litre V12 Murciélago supercar saw its sales rise, boosted by growing demand for the Roadster version, to 464 units (up from 384 in 2004). Lamborghini sold 1,601 cars last year as they reduced existing stocks. These sales were made up of 1,072 Gallardo models (1,215 in 2004) and 529 of the larger Murciélago (377 in 2004).

The Automobili Lamborghini Holdings division at the end of 2005 consists of the Automobili Lamborghini, Lamborghini ArtiMarca, Lamborghini Motori Marini and Autogerma. The Lamborghini Group (excluding Autogerma) had 725 employees at the end of last year (as opposed to 726 on 31st December 2004) with 138 employed in Research & Development, fractionally down from the 144 in this area at the end of 2004. (Autogerma increased its employees by 8.6 pct to 836 at the end of last year, up from 770 at 31st Dec 2004 as the result of increased sales activity).

Lamborghini’s biggest market continued to be the United States which accounted for 40 pct of sales. Second most important was Germany (10.3 pct), then their domestic market Italy (7.9 pct), with Japan (7.8 pct) and the UK (5.1 pct) next up. The world wide dealer network expanded very rapidly from 67 in 2004 to 86 in 2005, with four new dealers in Italy.

This year Automobili Lamborghini expect to bulk of their sales to be made up of the Gallardo Spyder which was unveiled at the Frankfurt IAA last September. At the Geneva Motor Show next week Lamborghini will reveal the new Murciélago LP640, an evolution of their 6.2-litre V12-engined flagship supercar. Last month they presented a concept car at the Detroit Motor Show which updates the theme of their famous Miura sportscar.