It seems Automobili Lamborghini SpA is on course to put down its best year ever in the history books if the first nine months of 2022 are any indication, from January to September 2022 no less than 7,430 units have been delivered to customers, and 8% increase compared to 2021, and the growth isn’t just limited to one market, the Americas, Asia Pacific, and EMEA all grew about the same in 2022, and all that while we know the naturally aspirated engines are being phased out for an all-out hybrid lineup by 2024.
And it is not just about the number of cars, but also financial, turnover for the first nine months reached €1.93 billion, up 30.1% compared with the same period in 2021. Operating profit also showed an increase of 68.5%, standing at €570 million. The corresponding Return on Sales (RoS) was 29.6% after 22.8% in the previous year period. The increase in profitability was driven by a rise in volumes; the growth in average revenue per car (thanks to the product mix and increased customizations); and the favorable trend in exchange rates.
Stephan Winkelmann, the Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, commented: “These consistently rising figures show just how strong Lamborghini is today. We have an order portfolio that already covers the first quarter of 2024, and this allows us to work with peace of mind, looking thoughtfully ahead to the challenges facing us in the future, such as the first step towards hybridization from 2023.”
Paolo Poma, Managing Director and CFO of Automobili Lamborghini, added: “The current situation continues to be marked by the instability of macroeconomic variables, while the company is showing its resilience through the growth of all the main business and financial metrics. We expect to close the financial year better than ever.”
it might not come as a surprise that the Lamborghini Urus is still killing it in terms of sales numbers, but the successful Super SUV from Sant’Agata saw no less than 4,834 cars leaving the factory grounds, another 7% increase compared to the first nine months of 2021, and a record since the introduction of the Urus back in 2018, with the new Urus Performante and Urus S being unveiled recently, it doesn’t seem the orders have slowed down for this impressive off-road supercar, but you’ll have to be ready for a rather long waiting period … the order books at Lamborghini are filled for the next 18 months already, hence well into 2024.
Next to the rather large (in comparison) Lamborghini Urus, the Huracan has been a massive success along the way too, in nine months 2,378 V10 supercars were completed on the Linea Huracan and sent out to their new owners, which happens to be double-digit increase compared to last year, 11% to be exact, and while the Huracan STO is the absolute masterpiece in the V10 lineup, the recently introduced Technica became an instant success too, so much so, you can’t even put an order in for a Huracan anymore, the order books are closed as the successor is foreseen for a late 2024 release when it will come with a twin-turbo V8 hybrid powerplant, it seems the V10 will be retired.
The Huracan replacement could be using the Urus V8 as a base to develop a new unit for the upcoming ‘entry-level’ Lamborghini supercar, with an electric motor put in between the engine and transmission, and most likely the car will still be an all-wheel drive setup as we’re used to from Lamborghini by now, and as Audi will not be building an R8 counterpart, chances are the next-generation Huracan will not be using a common platform, there is even a rumor they are trying to use the same platform as on the V12 successor, albeit modified naturally, but that could mean the new Baby Lamborghini might become larger compared to the current Huracan.
This brings us to the Aventador, the V12 flagship model from Sant’Agata, we’ve published the photos and information on the very last car ever to be built on the Linea Aventador, the stunning blue metallic Ultimae Roadster that was inspired by the legendary Muira Roadster, production of the Aventador is officially halted, and most likely they are preparing to convert the Linea Aventador at the time of writing to start a run of production prototypes for the V12 hybrid successor that will be unveiled to the public in March 2023, however, a VIP launch party is planned during December 2022 already for VIP and existing customers … yes, there are already countless order forms signed for the new flagship from Sant’Agata.
This year we’ve seen the Urus Performante and Urus S being shown, also the Huracan Technica, all with ICE engines, and later this year, during Art Basel in Miami we’ll be seeing the very last pure combustion engine from Lamborghini being unveiled, the off-road version of the Huracan, the long-awaited Sterrato, for which rumor has it the orders are closed already too, so while we’ve never even seen the car in real life yet, it is sold out, which is an amazing feat in today’s economic era, but there’s even more news, it seems Automobili Lamborghini SpA is gearing up to resurrect one of their classic best-sellers in a matter of years.
Before we had the Gallardo setting a sales record with just over 14,000 units (dwarfed by the Urus and Huracan by now), there was one V12 model that reached a record-setting 1,227 units, an absolute record back in the Seventies, we’re talking about the Lamborghini Espada, also referred to as the ‘Italian Rolls Royce’, the fastest four-seater in the world at the time according to some historic publications. The facts remain this was a magnificent front-engined V12 car with about 350 hp that could transport four adults at shattering speeds over the Italian Autostrada while boasting a coupe-style thanks to the two, rather large, doors and a flat rear window that would open into a rather large luggage space.
In an interview with Stephan Winkelmann, CEO of Lamborghini, by UK magazine Auto Express, he mentioned we’ll be seeing the first Lamborghini EV in 2028, and it will be a fourth model in the lineup, next to the Aventador successor, the Huracan successor, the Urus PHEV (which has been seen testing already, hence a launch might be imminent), and we’ll be getting another daily-driver at that time, so it seems by 2028 we’ll be having two supercars, a Super SUV, and a GT from Sant’Agata, and the latter will boast more ground-clearance compared to the supercars, be able to seat four people in a 2+2 configuration while showing just two doors.
Most likely the new 2028 Lamborghini EV will be using a version of the SSP, Scalable Systems Platform architecture currently under development by the VW Group, which will be available on the 2026 VW Trinity EV sedan, it seems Lamborghini engineers have found a way to offset the extra bulk usually seen on EV cars according to Lamborghini’s chief technical officer Rouven Mohr, I do hope they will take inspiration from the Asterion and the Estoque when designing Lamborghini’s first-ever EV.