The Neubauer Group is very well known in Paris, especially for on the local luxury car market, so adding Lamborghini to the list was an obvious evolution … on January 19. 2012 Stephan Winkelmann, CEO of Automobili Lamborghini SpA attended the official opening of Lamborghini Paris Ouest, the brand new showroom in the region.
Not only the Lamborghini Gallardo was on display, even one of the Super Trofeo race cars could be admired, but also the latest flagship, the Aventador LP700-4 was accounted for. Note the latter received no less than 29 international awards since it was unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show, to the point this new Aventador has become the reference for other super cars on the market.
Outside the showroom the brand new Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale was parked, note that it wasn’t riding on the standard wheels but received optional cross spokes in a glossy black shade … a bit different but still very nice … add to this the LP550-2 Spyder version and we can safely state the Gallardo range became to most popular Bull ever with about 12,000 units built to date.
Despite the very difficult financial climate all over the world, Automobili Lamborghini SpA managed to sell a total of 1602 cars in 2011, an increase of 23 percent … once again the United States was their primary market, but China came in second in 2011.
Lamborghini Paris Ouest is the fifth official showroom in France, with two locations in Paris, one in Mulhouse, Lyon and Monte Carlo … over 120 official dealerships are currently accounted for all over the world.
During the opening Stephan Winkelmann confirmed 2011 was a difficult year, both in Europe and oversea and 2012 will not be much easier either, but the continuing sales performance of the Aventador confirms Lamborghini is on the right track … and true to the tradition they will continue to present new developments … so I for one am eagerly awaiting the Geneva Auto Show to see what will be unveiled this year.
Much talk has been going round about the Aventador Roadster, however I’ve spoken to official Lamborghini guys who doubt the Roadster will be unveiled so soon after the normal LP700-4 version. The production of a Roadster variant would have to be performed on the same line as the closed version … and with a healthy 18 month production already sold out it could create an even longer waiting list if they would add a Roadster version on the same production line.
So I asked about a Gallardo Successor … again too soon apparently, so could we be seeing a third model to join the line up at Geneva? Perhaps a production version of the Estoque … or a two door GT model to compete with similar models from Maranello ? Only time will tell …
I can even imagine we will see the limited production version for the Sesto Elemento in Geneva. This would mean development of the Gallardo successor can carry on, the Aventador Roadster can come into the picture during one of the US shows later in the year or perhaps at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris this year, which would give Lamborghini time to put the model to take over from the Gallardo in Geneva in 2013 … which would make perfect sense by the way given the fact the Super Trofeo series has been confirmed to run in 2012 and in 2013 … so replacing the model these race cars were based on in the final year of the series would be perfectly viable.
So if I was to make an educated guess we will be seeing the Sesto Elemento production version from which only 20 or so would be made at the 2012 Geneva Show in a few months, the Aventador Roadster version at the Paris Auto Show in September … so first deliveries could happen just before the 2013 Summer season … and the Gallardo successor at the 2013 Geneva show … how does that sound ?
