Luxury performance carmaker Lamborghini is holding on to hope that Europe’s transport regulators will allow carbon-neutral fuels after its 2035 ban on all but zero-emission new car sales.
The automaker, which is delaying its own entry into the BEV sector with the proposed Lanzador two-seater crossover until at least 2029, still hopes the European Union’s debate on carbon-neutral fuels, scheduled for next year, will allow them in ultra-low emission vehicle powertrains.
Speaking to BBC Business following record sales revenues for 2024, Stefan Winkelmann, CEO of Lamborghini, suggests his customer base wants the products the brand is currently producing.
He says this explains last year’s financial performance that sees the brand break new records with revenues of €3.09 billion ($3.34 billion), operating income of all-time high at €835 million ($903 million) and global car sales of 10,687.
When asked about Lamborghini’s BEV plans, Winkelmann says: “We have a very solid customer base which is far from being ‘bling’, in our opinion, and these customers are mostly entrepreneurs and CEOs, they are self-made men and they know what they are buying,”
“What is going to happen next is not that clear at a European level. There might be an opening from the European Union side for synthetic fuels. This would mean that we could also have internal combustion engines after the year 2035.”
Future business challenges are dominated by the potential of punitive U.S. import tariffs slapped on the automaker’s products. Expressing his concerns, Winkelmann says: “The U.S. is by far our biggest market with almost 25% of total registrations and, for sure, a rise in prices or whatever is going to happen is going to have an impact.”
“We are going to have to see how we are going to do it and then we will act accordingly.”
However, he is confident that the brand can compete with other luxury performance brands such as Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Winkelmann explains: “While the majority of the other brands in 2024 were going down in terms of sales, we were still rising.” “So, we have the best recipe and to invest into technology and in having always a very distinctive design and always have a better performance the generation before,” the CEO adds.
