Q&A: Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann
What's going on in the supercar market?
It is no longer just about beauty and engines; it's about quality and having a car that is really drivable. And everybody is growing. The average yearly sales of Lamborghini for the first forty years was 250 cars, so they were just collector's items. In the last three years, we've exceeded 1000 cars. By the end of November last year, we'd sold 2000 cars.
What's your plan for Lamborghini?
I heavily revised the product plan for the next few years, and I said that for each year, we had to have some news, even if we have only two models. Ten years from now, our cars will still be uncompromising, extreme, and Italian.
Is there room for more performance in this category?
Yes, but the future is less about adding horsepower and more about improving the power-to-weight ratio. We need to get the weight down, use different materials, and improve performance and drivability.
What does it mean to be part of the Volkswagen Group?
Lamborghini still feels like an Italian car company. The big change is that now it's a real car company. Before, Lamborghini was just something for car lovers, and there was no real discipline. Sometimes it's very tough to meet all the [VW/Audi] standards. But this way is right; it should not be, "Yeah, you can do whatever you want." This is not a halo business for Audi. Lamborghini must make it on its own.
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