Stefano Domenicali is no stranger to speed. Before being installed as Automobili Lamborghini CEO in 2016, he spent nearly his entire career with rival Ferrari in its motorsport division, culminating in a six-year stint as chief of its famed Formula 1 team. Now he’s overseeing a different type of acceleration: massive sales and production growth for the 55-year-old supercar brand.
Last year, Lamborghini sold 3,815 cars globally, up 10% year on year, for its seventh consecutive year of sales growth. To put that in some historical context, the company sold 2,049 Countach, perhaps the company’s most famous design, during its entire 16-year production run between 1974 and 1990. (Of course, it’s still small potatoes in absolute terms—GM sells more than 5,000 cars daily in the U.S. alone).
Volkswagen-AG owned Lamborghini describes its next step as a “quantum leap” for growth with an eye on doubling sales in the next few years. To get there it is re-entering a market segment it last experimented with in the 1980s: SUVs. Only this time it’s no experiment. Investment and expectations for its new Urus super sport utility vehicle are sky high. Its factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese has doubled in capacity in about a year to produce the 190 mph-capable truck, and dealers are reporting outsized interest.
After the SUV, Domenicali is happy to signal where he sees the brand going next. A grand tourer? He’d like to see one. A sedan? Don’t bet on it. Electric drivetrains? Eventually, but not in the short term, we’ll see a hybrid Urus first.
Whatever the direction Lamborghini takes we can count on two things: it’ll be flash and it’ll be fast.
