Lamborghini Quadruples Profits in First Half of 2007

Most people have at one time or another wished for the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, and it looks as if the dreams of many are finally coming true. The storied Italian supercarmaker, a division of Volkswagen’s Audi AG, is enjoying a popularity like it’s never before known, and with the record sales numbers its reported pretax profit has almost quadrupled during the first half of 2007 to $36.1 million, already bypassing the previous record of 18.1 million earned for all of last year.

“The company came one step closer to its target of being the most profitable super sports car manufacturer in the world,” the company said in a statement issued Friday, July 27. The statement continued in telling that in the first half of 2006 pretax profit totaled 6.9 million.

Lamborghini, the builder of such renowned collectible sports cars as the Miura (thefirst mid-engine production car), Countach and Diablo, and the creator of the world’s first super SUV, the LM002, is enjoying its best sales ever with the ultra-exotic and stunningly attractive Murciélago Coupe and Roadster (the latter of which has been featured in such films as Batman Begins and Jason Statham’s The Transporter 2), plus the entry-level Gallardo Coupe and Spyder models, the latter two making up the bulk of its new business.

Prior to the Gallardo, the Jalpa was only moderately successful Lamborghini against arch rival Ferrari and its mid-engine V8-powered exotics, such as the F348 and F355. Other V8 models, like the Urraco, from 1970 to ‘79, and the short-run Silhouette from ‘76 to ‘77, paved the way for the Italian firm’s success, but it has taken VW AG’s deep pockets and Audi’s guiding influence to make the most out of Lamborghini’s brand assets.

And Lamborghini has been a boon for Audi, which fully consolidates Lamborghini’s revenue into its accounts, as well as Volkswagen AG which owns Audi, not to mention Porsche which holds a large percentage of both. Lamborghini’s gross income for the first half of 2007 increased by more than 61 percent to 253 million euros, while new vehicle deliveries were up by some 30 percent to 1,239 cars.

If you want to join the party you’d better get in line, as Lamborghini’s entire production is spoken for until mid-2008.