Economic slowdown affecting super luxury segment: Lamborghini India

The ongoing slowdown in the auto industry has also impacted the super luxury segment but Lamborghini expects sales to grow around 50 per cent this year, according to a top company official.

With its new offering, the super sports car Huracan Evo, starting deliveries from September to add to the Urus SUV, which has been sold out for 2019, Lamborghini India is confident of clocking high double-digit sales growth, although it had earlier pegged the outlook for the year at around 60 per cent.

"There is a downturn in the overall auto industry. There are some challenges even in the super luxury industry. Thankfully we are able to bring products at the right time and we are able to create excitement in the marketplace despite the challenges," Lamborghini India Head Sharad Agarwal told PTI.

Following the launch of Urus SUV, last year the company emerged as the leader in the overall super luxury cars segment (cars priced above Rs 2.5 crore) where it competes with the likes of Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin and top end products from German manufacturers Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

When asked about the outlook for the year under the current circumstances, he said, "What we are looking is that for 2019 we are right now on track with our plans and we will be growing by 40-50 per cent over last year."

The company, which sold 45 units in India last year, had earlier in the year pegged growth for 2019 at around 60 per cent.

"We are still optimistic and we have a strong year until now. Urus has been the growth driver but Huracan Evo, which was launched in February, we will start delivering the cars from September onwards in the market. That will also help us help in achieving the growth," Agarwal said.

He further said the company will be reinforcing its product portfolio.

"We will announce one more launch during this year sometime around the end of this quarter or early next quarter. We will continue to bring more products to India," he said.

Urus has been sold out for 2019 and the company has started taking orders for 2020.

"It has been one and half years since we have launched the car in India. We still see a very strong demand for Urus in the market and 70 per cent of the customers who are buying Urus are first time buyers of Lamborghini brand. Urus will continue to be almost 50 per cent of our volumes from now onwards. This year also Urus will be 50 per cent of our total volume," he said.

In the super sports segment, he said, "We anticipate Hurcan Evo is going to lead in our super sports car segment in coming years, contributing a significant part of the volume."

On the overall super luxury segment, he said, "What I see currently is that other players are also quite challenged. It reflects the same sentiments that you see in the overall auto industry."

However, he said the segment may not shrink, "as we are driving the growth and because of Lamborghini's growth the segment could be at what it was last year". The super luxury segment sees sales of around 280-300 units per annum.