Lamborghini is coming off a record sales year in which the brand sold more than 9,000 units globally for the first time, an increase of about 10% vs. 2022. The surge came despite industrywide supply-chain problems including the computer chip shortage.
“After Covid-19, in a nutshell, the market was stronger than expected,” says Stephan Winkelmann, chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, based in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy.
Lamborghini turnover for 2022 was a record €2.38 billion ($2.53 billion) for 2022, up 22% vs. 2021. Operating income for 2022 was a record €614 million ($654 million), up 56%. The storied super-car brand is owned by the Volkswagen Group and managed though Audi.
There’s little doubt Lamborghini could have sold more units in 2022 if it could have produced more. Demand continues to far outstrip supply in 2023. Winkelmann (pictured, below left) acknowledges an 18-month waiting list.
U.S. dealer Bob DiStanislao says most Lamborghini customers will wait it out, although he says rising interest rates make it more tempting for customers to jump off the waiting list.
“It is a long time,” DiStanislao says in a phone interview. “We are more than a year out.” Fortunately, he says, “by and large, our customers are pretty well insulated” from economic ups and downs.
DiStanislao is the owner of RDS Automotive Group, Newtown Square, PA. He has Lamborghini dealerships in Philadelphia; Greenwich, CT; and Newport Beach, CA.
Worldwide, Lamborghini deliveries totaled 9,233 in 2022. Winkelmann says the U.S. market is Lamborghini’s largest by far, including the No.1 market for the Lamborghini Urus CUV.
Total U.S. Lamborghini deliveries were 2,721 for 2022, 10% ahead of 2021, the company says. That’s about 29% of the worldwide total. China was the No.2 market last year with deliveries of 1,018, up 8.9% from 2021 and about 11% of the worldwide total.
Winkelmann says that while the U.S. is the biggest Urus market, the CUV isn’t a U.S.-only model. U.S. sales of the Urus are about 30% of the worldwide total, roughly in line with U.S. global share overall for the Lamborghini brand.
In turn, the Urus accounted for about 58% of worldwide Lamborghini production in 2022, followed by the Huracán (35%) and Aventador (6.7%). The Aventador went out of production after September 2022; its successor is due later this year. The replacement for the Aventador is to be Lamborghini’s first plug-in hybrid – which will be mated to a V-12.
The Urus debuted in late 2017. It’s due for a redesign by the end of 2024, Winkelmann says. Last year, Lamborghini introduced the Urus Performante variant, which gets 657 hp from a twin-turbo V-8, 16 hp more than the standard Urus. In a similar vein, the Huracán has had the Tecnica top-of-the-line version since last year.
Winkelmann says the Urus is bringing new buyers to the brand. “Plenty of people for the first time approached the brand with the Urus,” he says.
Like the rest of the industry, Lamborghini is shifting away from internal-combustion engines and switching to plug-in hybrids and ultimately battery-electric vehicles. Under the skin, hybrids and BEVs are being co-developed with Audi, Bentley and Porsche inside the Volkswagen Group.
By the end of 2024, Winkelmann says Lamborghini will offer no more ICE-only models. He says the brand’s first fully battery-electric models start arriving in 2028.
