Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4
How has 2016 been for Lamborghini in India, and how do you see the market progressing in the short term?
I think it’s been a good year for us. This year, we introduced two new models in the Indian market. In the first half of the year, we introduced the Huracan Spyder – a product that combines both the lifestyle and performance aspects of a sports car. The Spider was aimed to satisfy the more lifestyle oriented customers. And we also introduced the Huracan Avio, which is a tribute to the world of aviation. This was also an opportunity for us to showcase a limited edition version of the Huracan to Indian customers, and offer them the opportunity to be one among the 250 lucky individuals globally who could own this limited edition example. So, I would say it’s been a good year for us, and, fortunately, the industry has also been doing quite well. And I expect the industry to grow in double digits this year, which is a very positive sign for the market. And we’ll continue to maintain our number one position in our segment in India.
Has the Huracan lead to the kind of sales increase that you were hoping for?
Yes, it has. The Huracan, today, is the best-selling model in Lamborghini’s history. When we were launching the Huracan, it was a challenge for us – because it was to succeed the most successful model from Lamborghini till then, the Gallardo. But I think, with its cutting-edge technology and visionary design, the Huracan has delighted customers – and, thus, we’ve been rewarded with very good sales figures. Last year, we sold more than 2,500 Huracan’s globally. Lamborghini achieved a sales record globally, as well as in India. So, today, we offer three different versions of the Huracan in India – the 610-4 Coupe, the 610-4 Spyder and the rear-wheel drive 580-2. We believe that with more variants expected in the Huracan family in the future, we’ll continue to grow.
Do you still feel that the Urus will be the model that will see sales for Lamborghini take off in India?
For sure, the Urus is going to open up a completely new segment of customers for us. It’ll also address the challenge that we face in India, in terms of road infrastructure. And it’ll be a complete family car that can be used by customers every day. So we’re very positive about the Urus’ prospects, and we anticipate that given the preference for SUV’s in India we should be able to double our volumes once we have the full supplies of the Urus available for the Indian market.
When are we likely to see the Urus launch in India?
Globally, Urus deliveries are expected to start in 2018, and the launch in India will be closely aligned with the global launch of the car – there wont’ be too much of a time gap between the global and the Indian launch.
With competition in the ultra-luxury sector increasing in India, what is your strategy to be the number one in your segment?
In 2012, Lamborghini decided to make an investment into India, and we created a structure and a team that is based in India for the Indian market and our Indian customers. We created the capabilities of after-sales service of international standards in order to meet customer expectations and take care of their cars. Apart from that, we have the right partners at strategic locations – and all of them are very passionate about this business. They are also very well connected with our target group of customers – so when this set of customers decide on buying a supercar, Lamborghini is already in the reckoning for them. Another thing that we’ve been able to do successfully in India is get our international experience platforms here, like last year we did driving track days with a fleet of our cars and international driving experts. This allowed us to give Indian customers a feel of what the capabilities of a Lamborghini are. These events also help bring more people into the Lamborghini family.
Interacting with your customers, what do you find is the biggest roadblock that prevents them from using their Lamborghini’s more often?
There are a lot of changes happening in Indian society right now. What we’re witnessing is that people are using our cars more often than before. We even have customers who use their Lamborghini’s for their daily commute. There are customers clocking between 8,000 to 10,000 kilometres in their Lamborghini in a year. Compared to before, people are now a lot more expressive and they’re comfortable driving these cars. Infrastructure remains a challenge, of course, but we also offer options to tackle that – such as the body raising function in the Huracan, which increases the ground clearance to 175mm. Now, that’s almost as good as most mass market cars. So we’re trying to provide our customers with maximum usability for their Lamborghini. Another factor which is a challenge in bigger cities is the state of the traffic – to offset that we try and do a lot of weekend drives with our customers, so they get to enjoy their Lamborghini’s when there’s less traffic on the road. So, yes, while there are challenges, we’re trying to create platforms through technology and features to tackle those challenges and give our customers the opportunity to enjoy their Lamborghini.
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