Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jul 15, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jul 15, 2006 |
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Marketing
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New Products & Services Industry & Economy - Cars Lamborghini debuts with 2 models Our Bureau
SPEED KING: Mr Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO, Automobili Lamborghini, and Mr Satya Bagla, Managing Director, Exclusive Motors (right), at the launch of new car `Gallardo Spyder' in the Capital on Friday. — Ramesh Sharma
New Delhi , July 14 Italian sports car maker Lamborghini on Friday announced its debut in India with the rollout of two of its models — Gallardo and Murcielago. While the compact, two-seater Gallardo will sport a price tag of Rs 1.65 crore, its convertible variant Gallardo Spyder will cost Rs 1.85 crore. The two-seater, two-door coupe Murcielago has a Rs 3-crore price-tag. "We come to India not by chance but with a plan. The Indian economy is growing and so is the list billionaires and millionaires, which makes it an attractive and important market for us," said the Lamborghini President and CEO, Mr Stephan Winkelmann.
Growing purchase capacity
He said as the Indian economy grew and so did the capacity of people to buy luxury cars and that the company hoped to sell as many as 50-60 cars per year in the country. The Indian market has seen a flurry of launches of cars priced over Rs 1 crore, with the Maybach, Bentley Arnage and Rolls Royce Phantom among the models already available. Commenting on the competition from the other luxury cars models, Mr Winkelmann said: "We have a brand following and in any case, our customers do not go for one car. They have many big ones up their driveways and would sure like to add a sports car like Lamborghini." He said Lambhorgini does not believe in big volumes but prefers exclusivity. "We are a 43-year-old company and were selling just 250 cars per year annually for as many as 40 years. However, this has changed in the last three years where we crossed the 1,000-mark. We finished 2005 with sales of 1,600 units and hope to touch 1,900 this year," he added.
Dealership route
Instead of setting up a direct representative office in a country (except in case of Japan), the company prefers to enter markets through the dealership route. In India, it has a tie-up with Mr Satya Bagla's Exclusive Motors, which besides Delhi, is likely to start a new dealership in Mumbai by this year-end. Mr Winkelmann said apart from India, China and Russia were other growing markets where the company was focussing. "We have three dealerships in China and sold 20 cars in the country, while for Russia where we kicked off operations this year, we have an annual target of 25 cars," he said.
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