Lamborghini sets to seduce rich Indians

Luxury carmaker Lamborghini has opened a second showroom in India, in a bid to accelerate sales in Asia's third largest economy, amid a crackdown on flashy goods in China.

The maker of the gas-guzzling sports cars that cost up to $500,000 (£312,000) each expects to sell 20 cars in India this year, up from 17 in 2012 and 15 in 2011.

Lamborghini, which is owned by Volkswagen, thinks India's super-rich have an appetite for their expensive cars, despite the country's high taxes on luxury vehicles and notoriously potholed roads.

Speaking at the opening of the showroom in New Delhi, Lamborghini's chief executive, Stephan Winkelmann, said India was an opportunity for the future. "We hope that sooner or later, in terms of taxation, in terms of infrastructure, this is going to be easier to market, and then you have the opportunity to grow in numbers," he told Reuters.

He admitted that the company has more Indian customers outside the country than inside, in part because the traffic and roads "are not so suitable".

In India, Lamborghini sells two models: the Gallardo, and the Aventador, which has a top speed of 217mph.

Winkelmann said Lamborghini's Indian customers were "much younger" than those in Europe, with a typical buyer being a first-time entrepreneur in their 30s.


India is still a long way from offsetting falling sales in China, which is Lamborghini's second-largest market behind the US. The combination of the Chinese authorities' crackdown on lavish spending by government officials and the slowing rate of economic growth are curbing sales of luxury goods, from gems to handbags to fast cars.

"China, for us, is a challenge right now," Winkelmann said. "What the government is doing, for the time being, [means] it is a little difficult to buy these type of goods."

The Bologna-based company, founded by tractor magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, sold around 230 cars in China in 2012, 11% of its total sales for that year. Lamborghini expects to sell 2,000 cars worldwide in 2013, slightly down on last year.

But analysts do not expect the Chinese market for premium cars to be restrained for too long. McKinsey expects that 3m of the cars sold in China in 2020 will be "premium" – such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz and Audi – compared with 1.25m in 2012.


/The Guardian/