‘We are reaching beyond metros, you can see a Lamborghini across the footprint of the market’

Lamborghini had a record-setting year in 2021, delivering an all-time high of 8,405 supercars around the world. Despite India’s modest contribution of 69 units to that total, the Italian super performance brand is gung-ho about its future prospects here. Its Super-SUV- the Urus, is helping it unlock new buyers and entirely new markets beyond the major metros. In fact, more than 50 per cent of India sales during 2021 were of the Urus. That number needs to be viewed in the context of the fact that nearly 80 per cent of all buyers were first time entrants to the Lamborghini brand. 

The supercars market is expected to grow rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region, of which India is part. With the increase in the number of unicorns and the rise in the number of successful start-ups, Lamborghini expects a jump in the number of younger buyers who can afford supercars. Last year, India was part of the top ten markets in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Sharad Agarwal, Head, Lamborghini India, and Francesco Scardaoni, APAC Head for Automobili Lamborghini spoke to BusinessLine about the brand’s performance and future plans. Excerpts:

Customer engagement

India is developing in terms of both the economy and customer profile. There are younger buyers understanding the proposition of ownership of a Lamborghini. There are, of course, many factors that affect the market size, both internal and external, with the latter being the regulatory environment and government policy. This we don’t have any control over. But, internal factors are within our control and we are very focused on ensuring that our customers get the best ownership experience. Our events are designed around the customers to ensure that they experience the brand and feel like they are part of the family. 

I think the primary focus is how we connect with our customers and then curate experiences to showcase the design and technological leadership that a Lamborghini has. That is why we have experiences like Lamborghini GIRO where we are driving on some of the best highways in the country with our customers. We have Lamborghini day, where we are celebrating the success of the brand and curating an experience where they can drive around in the city environment and enjoy their Lamborghini. We have Esperienza track events that give them the experience to drive a Lamborghini. We have a Programme known as ‘Lamborghini in your city’ through which we are reaching out to these tier 1-2 cities connecting with customers who have dreams and aspirations to own a Lamborghini.

Biggest selling model

Urus is contributing the most to the total volumes in India. It is a game-changer for us, not only in this market but because it addresses the challenges that the average road user faces in terms of driving conditions. It is also a vehicle that can be enjoyed by more than one person in the car. It has brought in more customers to the brand, over 80 per cent of them being first-time buyers. A lot of potential customers who may have hesitated earlier are drawn by the Urus’ ability to combine the versatility of an SUV and the driving dynamics and the true emotions of a super sports Lamborghini. Urus opened the doors to families that wanted to share the passion of driving a super sports car with the comfort of sharing it with more people.

Buyer trends

As a brand, we have witnessed some trends in the market. For example, 4-5 years ago the demand for our models or super-luxury cars was largely concentrated in metros, but today we see demand coming from tier 1 and 2 cities.

Today, you can see a Lamborghini right from Ludhiana to Chandigarh, Kanpur to Lucknow, Guwahati to other northeastern regions, and many more. So it is now reaching beyond metros and you can see a Lamborghini across the footprint of the market. Another exciting trend we saw is that earlier the demand was largely from third-fourth generation business entrepreneurs, but now it is more of first-generation business entrepreneurs-- people in the startup world who have made it large, and who always had dreams to reward themselves with a Lamborghini. Hearteningly, we are seeing more and more women buying Lamborghinis and driving these cars.

And yes, these are the trends and growth indicators for the future. The growth of wealth with more and more Millenials becoming successful and wealthy faster, the startup culture, the growth of unicorns in the country; are the trends that we are monitoring and we are keeping ourselves connected with these sets of prospects.

COMMENT NOW