MAY 27, 2002

How will Lamborghini sell the Murcielago?

THE Lamborghini company is currently embarking on a major sales drive to sell its new 580 horsepower V12 Murcielago supercar, which it hopes will increase Lamborghini's sales five fold in the next two years. This will be part of the revamping process of the Lamborghini brand under Volkswagen ownership.

Lamborghini is in direct competition with Ferrari and the last time that it was owned by a major automobile company (when it belonged to Chrysler in the 1980s) the management in Detroit did the logical thing and went into F1 to promote the firm's image. Volkswagen says it has no plans to enter F1 but Lamborghini is one of the brands which had been designated "sporting" under the restructuring being done by the new chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder.

What is Lamborghini going to do to make everyone think it is a sporting brand?

VW brands Audi and Bentley are already nailed into sportscar racing and Seat seems to be making moves in rallying...

The VW policies at the moment create lots of questions - and none of them seem to have answers.