Lamborghini not shifting

The first sports car company to build a giant four-wheel-drive has no plans to do it again.

And Lamborghini also rules out joining Porsche and Aston Martin in building a four-door luxury sedan.

The Italian company has closed the door on anything outside its sports car portfolio, and company president Stephane Winkelmann has passed some sharp judgments on the future of the luxury car business.

“SUV's have had their day. They are finished,” he says of luxury four-wheel-drives.

“It's important that we not shy away from our two models, which are helping us to improve awareness of the brand. We want to continue the message of uncompromising and extreme,” is his take on anything four-door that would dilute the Gallardo and Murcielago impact.

Winkelmann says there is no chance Lamborghini will return to making a large off-road vehicle because it would be lambasted by environmentalists.

Lamborghini produced the LM002 off-roader with a 5.2-litre V12 engine from 1986-1992 at a time when the company was part of the Chrysler empire.

“We were the first to come out with an SUV, and people forget we were the first to come out with a real two-plus-two (the Lamborghini 400GT),” Winkelmann says.

“To say ‘let's do an SUV' is not possible. There is no such thing as luxury SUVs. They are premium cars. I believe if we do an SUV it would have to be the biggest and strongest, but by its nature it would be very polluting and we would be crucified if we did it.”

It would also complicate Lamborghini's plans to reduce emissions by as much as 40 per cent.

So Winkelmann says Lamborghini will stick with today's two-model line-up, though there will be some undisclosed derivatives.

He has plenty of reasons to be happy. Lamborghini has raised pre-tax profits from $567 million in 2006 to $765 million last year, mainly through better efficiency and drawing on partnerships – mostly in the VW Group, which owns Lamborghini – for such things as parts purchasing and back-room development.

Lamborghini is on the move worldwide and, in Australia, its success is reflected in a new Brisbane dealership. Another will open in Perth before the end of the year.

They are among 10 new dealerships worldwide that will boost Lamborghini's global network to 107, a number that has already risen from 65 in 2005.

“Sydney and Melbourne make up 60 to 70 per cent of the market, but Queensland and Western Australia are both growing,” Winkelmann says.

“We are not quite at 100 cars yet in Australia, but we are getting there. Australia is one market in the Asia-Pacific region that is growing.”

Lamborghini sold 46 cars in Australia last year (up from 38 in 2006) compared with Ferrari, which sold 145 (up from 101 in 2006).