The Geneva Stand Where a Book Sat Next to an SVJ
At the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, Lamborghini staged something unusual. The Huracán EVO Spyder, the Aventador SVJ Roadster, and the Urus occupied their expected positions on the white exhibition floor, flanked by the company’s signature hexagonal branding. Sharing that real estate, positioned not in a separate boutique corner but integrated directly into the car display, sat a collection of lifestyle objects: a hand-bound book with a carbon fiber cover, a tech-loaded backpack limited to 63 units, and a gaming simulation station running Gameloft’s Asphalt 9: Legends.
The staging was deliberate. Lamborghini presented these collaborations as co-equal expressions of its engineering philosophy, not as gift-shop afterthoughts tucked behind a velvet rope. For a brand that built its identity around V12 displacement and naturally aspirated fury, the message was pointed: the company’s material science and design language now extend to objects you carry, read, and interact with digitally. That conviction, that Forged Composite and Y-shape design DNA are exportable intellectual property rather than locked-in vehicle components, ran through every partnership on display and gave the Geneva stand a coherence that went beyond mere merchandising.
The €9,900 Brand Totem: Inside the Forged Composite Book
The centerpiece of that argument was DNA Lamborghini, a collector’s volume produced with the D’ORO Collection and edited by Antonio Ghini. The official price is €9,900. For that sum, a buyer receives a numbered edition covering every Lamborghini model and prototype from 1963 to the present, with original sketches signed by Mitja Borkert, the company’s Head of Design.
The engineering case, and it genuinely is an engineering case, centers on the cover. Each copy features a Forged Composite shell produced with the same chopped carbon fiber technology Lamborghini developed for the Huracán Performante‘s ALA (Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva) system. Forged Composite, unlike traditional woven carbon fiber layup, uses short strands of carbon pressed in a mold, allowing complex geometries and a distinctive marbled surface finish. On the Performante, this material formed the active rear wing and front spoiler. On the book, it forms the cover. The bronze Lamborghini shield badge is gilded, the binding uses Leonis silk and orange leather, and the photographic images are silk-screened onto hand-sewn cotton paper.
Is a book cover engineered with the same rigor as a rear wing? Technically, yes. The manufacturing process is identical. Whether that justifies nearly ten thousand euros is a question Lamborghini is comfortable letting the market answer. The first edition was limited to 250 numbered copies, and later editions pushed the price even higher. One web source indicates the Platinum Edition, a 60th-anniversary run of just 60 copies, carried a price of €21,500.
Lamborghini confirmed that buyers can request personalization with their name and even a VIN from their own car, a detail that echoes the Ad Personam customization philosophy applied to the vehicles themselves. That detail matters because it reveals the underlying logic: the book is not simply a publication but a material artifact manufactured with the same processes, and offered with the same bespoke options, as the cars it documents.
Wearable Tech: The Piquadro Bagmotic and the Number 63
If the book proved that Lamborghini’s manufacturing technology could migrate off the car, the second Geneva collaboration tested whether its design language could do the same. Piquadro, an Italian maker of tech-forward business accessories, produced a limited-edition Bagmotic backpack under the Collezione Automobili Lamborghini label. Only 63 examples were produced, a number referencing the company’s 1963 founding year. The same numeral appears throughout Lamborghini’s special editions, from the Aventador SVJ 63 to the Huracán STO, making it a kind of internal shorthand for scarcity that matters.
The backpack combines Alcantara and carbon fiber panels with matt full-grain leather, and the design borrows directly from the cars. An Argos orange insert on the front traces the Y-shape motif visible in the seats and headlights of current Lamborghini models. Each unit carries a numbered carbon skin plate inside, mirroring the production plaque found in limited-series super sports cars.
What separates this from a standard luxury backpack is the Bagmotic system itself. Piquadro’s proprietary technology connects the bag to a smartphone via Bluetooth through the Connequ app, triggering an alarm if the backpack moves out of range. Inside, a dedicated pocket holds a powerbank for wireless induction charging. The bag also includes a combination lock, an anti-theft cable, and an RFID-shielded wallet pocket designed to prevent contactless credit card cloning. At €800, the price sits well below the book’s stratosphere, though it remains a significant premium over comparable smart backpacks from mainstream brands.
The practical question for Lamborghini owners: does it fit in the front trunk of a Huracán? Lamborghini did not address this at Geneva, which feels like a missed opportunity for a brand selling a backpack to people who drive mid-engine supercars with notoriously limited cargo space.
Digital and Sensory Extensions: From Asphalt 9 to Artisan Chocolate
Lamborghini’s third collaboration brought the Huracán EVO Spyder into Gameloft’s mobile racing game Asphalt 9: Legends. The partnership built on a previous tie-up that featured the Terzo Millennio concept, and at Geneva, show visitors could drive a virtual EVO Spyder in an on-stand simulation. The first five winners of an in-game contest received 1/43 scale collector’s models.
Mobile gaming partnerships rarely generate the same collector intensity as physical objects, but they serve a different strategic purpose within the same material-transfer philosophy. Where the book exports Forged Composite and the backpack exports Y-shape design DNA, the Asphalt 9 activation exports the driving experience itself. Lamborghini placed its newest open-top model in front of millions of players who may never visit a dealership, building brand familiarity with a younger demographic. The company did not announce any sales-impact targets for the activation, and the safer read is pure brand-building: meeting future enthusiasts where they already spend time.
Rounding out the sensory experience on the stand, Lamborghini invited Amedei, an artisan Italian chocolate maker, to host a discovery tasting. Cecilia Tessieri, Amedei’s founder and reportedly the first woman to hold the title of Maître Chocolatier, led the sessions during opening days. A small detail, but one that reinforced the broader staging philosophy: every sense engaged, every touchpoint curated to feel like an extension of the same world that produces the cars.
The Collector’s Strategy: Why Materials Tell the Story
Strip away the individual products and a single strategic conviction emerges from the Geneva stand: Lamborghini views its material innovations as exportable intellectual property, transferable markers of authenticity rather than components locked inside a vehicle chassis. Forged Composite originated in Sant’Agata’s partnership with Boeing and the University of Washington, found its defining application on the Performante’s active aero system, and now appears on a book cover sold through lamborghinistore.com. The company treats carbon fiber technology the way a fashion house treats its signature fabric.
For LamboCars readers who already own the vehicles, the relevant question is whether these artifacts hold value the way the cars do. Lamborghini confirmed no resale projections, and the honest answer is that ultra-luxury brand books and limited accessories occupy a murky collectibles market. The 250-unit first edition of DNA Lamborghini and the 63-unit Piquadro run are scarce enough to generate secondary-market interest, but whether they appreciate like a low-mileage Performante is an entirely different proposition.
Still, the Geneva staging made its point. Each collaboration pulled a specific element from the cars and applied it to a different medium: Forged Composite to publishing, Y-shape design DNA to wearable tech, the driving experience to digital entertainment. Together they argued that Lamborghini’s identity resides not just in horsepower and exhaust notes but in a material and design vocabulary that can travel.
For buyers already deep in the Lamborghini ecosystem, these objects function as brand totems, physical proof of membership in a material culture that starts with the car but no longer ends there. Whether you find that compelling or excessive probably depends on how many Lamborghinis are already in your garage. If the answer is more than one, the €9,900 book is rounding error. It is zero, the Asphalt 9 partnership might be the more honest entry point.
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