Sales and Profits Soar at Lamborghini

As if Porsche wasn’t doing well enough on its own, the supercar company it owns a significant stake in, through its majority shareholding of Volkswagen AG, is enjoying record sales and impressive profits.

Revenues have increased by nearly 10-percent over the first half of 2007 to $434.5 million, while profits are up 32-percent $54.8 million. Now, give your head a shake when factoring in that these numbers are the result of a mere 1,309 new Gallardos and

sold. Incidentally, that number represents 71 additional cars sold during the first half of 2008 than were sold during the same period in 2007, equaling a 6-percent increase.

Like other ultra-premium marques, Lamborghini is having greater success than ever thanks to emerging markets such as China and Hong Kong, India, Russia and the Middle East, although it’s this last are that’s driving the majority of new Lambo sales. Middle Eastern sales are up some 40-percent while North American and European sales numbers are merely holding steady, stated Automotive News. Reportedly, stratospheric oil prices are behind the big sales numbers in this region.

The VW AG division’s CEO, Stephan Winkelmann, believes Lamborghini’s most recent rise in sales is due to a policy of building fewer vehicles than it can sell,

keeping supply lower than demand, although an extremely strong product lineup at a time when emerging market millionaires are being made at an unprecedented rate might have something to do with it too.

“There is no brand that is immune to financial crisis, but we
always produce less than demand. We are conservative in our forecast,” said a cautious Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann.