Introduction

Talk of a head-turner on the streets and you might as well be talking about a Lamborghini. Sleek, stylish and elegant, there are few prettier sites on the road than a Lamborghini whizz by.

Lamborghini is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Germany auto giant, Audi. It was founded on 30th October 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini. Headquartered in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy, the high-end Lamborghini cars are available worldwide. Lamborghini cars are for the elite and the number of cars produced annually gives a very good indication of its exclusivity- in 2010, only a little over 1200 units were produced.

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A was launched with the intention of developing a refined grand touring car that could compete against established leaders like Ferrari. Coincidentally, the first Lamborghini chassis design was developed by Italian chassis engineer Gian Paolo Dallara of Ferrari and Maserati. With highly innovative people, the Lamborghini 350GTV was successfully produced in merely four months.

The company’s initial models produced in the 1960s became famous quickly for their refinement, power, and comfort. There was another car that brought wide acclaim for Lamborghini. Known as the Miura sports coupé, this car pioneered mid-engine design. Later, this standard design was highly used for high-performance cars of the period. Cars like the Murciélago and Gallardo were styled and produced in keeping with the Lamborghini’s high standards. 

However, there was a sudden break in the rapid growth of the company in the mid 1970s. The hard times continued; in 1987 it came under the control of the Chrysler Corporation. However, Chrysler was also unable to transform the fortunes of Lamborghini. That happened much later in 1998 when Chrysler was sold to Audi. Not only did Audi bring stability to the company but also increased the productivity of Lamborghini.

At the turn of the millennium, Lamborghini came out with a number of modified versions of its popular models. About the same time, the company entered into an agreement with BMW to unveil an array of racing cars.

In the late 2000s, the sales of luxury cars declined drastically. However, the company continued with its reinvention. In 2009, the final update to the Murciélago was released. Along with this, Lamborghini also introduced the LP 670-4 SV ("SuperVeloce"). The 4,000th Murciélago was produced in the year 2010. In addition to the Murcielago, Gallardo, Sesto Elemento and Spyder were the other recent launches. A new series of cars, called the Lamborghini Aventador, is expected to be released either this year or the next.