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Plan to combat global slump

Part of Lamborghini's business strategy is to continue to release at least one new product every year.

Automobili Lamborghini president and CEO Stephan Winkelmann is confident the Italian manufacturer can ride out the current economic crisis.

"The worldwide market for luxury goods is down about 40 per cent and is affecting everything from fashion to watches, not just the car industry," he says.

"We are not immune to global recession, so we are working on how to counterbalance the tough times ahead.

"We are focussing on staying profitable and will keep a positive balance sheet this year and keeping brand image high."

Production director Enrico Ranieri says it is difficult to predict how many cars they will produce this year, but says numbers will be down.

"We will cut factory hours rather than lay off staff," he says.

Winkelmann avoids talking production numbers and says product diversification is the important part of their four-part business strategy.

"We have the youngest and widest product range for years and want to keep it that way with at least one new product every year,' he says at the launch in the Spanish Canary Islands of the Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder convertible.

"The Spyder is the most important car in terms of volume for years to come," he says.

Lamborghini will also this year launch a limited edition of 50 Murcielago LP 670-4 Super Veloces which debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in February.

It has 15 kilowatts more power, 100kg less weight, top seed of 342km/h and a 0-100km/h time of 3.2 seconds.

"The future of super sports cars is not about outright power, but more important is less weight for a greater power-to-weight ratio," Winkelmann says.

He says the company is also investing in research to reduce greenhouse carbon-dioxide emissions 40 per cent reduction by the next decade.

The current Gallardo is down 18 per cent on the previous model.

"We are investing heavily in research and development investment which is 8 per cent of our turnover which is higher than our competitor," he says.

Another key recession-busting strategy is to have a balanced market distribution of one third of their sales in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"For sure, Australia will be an important part of that strategy," Winkelmann says.

"Having a good balance will help the company when the recession ends because it will end at different times around the world."

The third strategy is brand diversification with more investment in their clothing and accessories.

"Profit and turnover in this area is up but we have a long way to go," he says.

The final strategy is to meet customer expectations with factory and museum tours, Lamborghini Academy track days, Giro Lamborghini club days and the Super Trofeo one-make racing series in Europe.