Lamborghini plans to triple its India sales on back of Urus: Baldi, Agarwal

Lamborghini is looking to triple its India sales on back of the Urus, its maiden SUV offering

Lamborghini India, the Italian luxury super sports carmaker, is looking to triple its India sales on back of the Urus, its maiden SUV offering. ANDREAS BALDI, general manager, Lamborghini Asia-Pacific and SHARAD AGARWAL, head of Lamborghini India, tell Shally Seth Mohile the model is going to be a game changer. Edited excerpts:

How important is the Urus for Lamborghini and for India?

Baldi: It’s a game-changer in every sense.  Considering it is positioned in the large SUV segment, the volumes are going to be much bigger than what is typically done by a model in the super luxury segment. 

The segment is limited by the number of people it can seat, usability of the car and typical profile of the buyer. The Urus takes care of most of these limitations. 

Therefore, its appeal is going to be much wider. In 2016, Lamborghini did a record 3,457 units. In 2017, it rose 10 per cent.  The Urus will help us achieve numbers that we have never thought of—we are looking to double our sales globally to 7,000 cars by 2019. By then, our production capacity will be fully utilised.

In India, we are looking to go a little bit higher and triple our sales.  The super luxury car market has been naturally limited here not because of lack of high net worth individuals but because of lack of usability, low ground clearance, etc. The road conditions in India are not conducive to cars with low ground clearance. Such cars are built for perfect conditions. The Urus offers exactly what this market needs. Imagine, suddenly, the condition of the road has become an asset for an SUV!

You said you are planning to triple India sales. How many cars did you sell last year?

Agarwal: We are market leader in the super luxury sports car segment with 40 per cent share. The size of the segment is roughly 70 units per annum. 

These are sports cars that have more than 400 PS in power, have two doors and priced above Rs 22.5 million. It’s a car with five seats and a large boot space. Customers in India always aspired for a Lamborghini but couldn’t buy because of the restrictions Andreas mentioned. Once we have the full availability of the Urus, we should be able to triple volumes from the current levels. It’s a super sports luxury SUV with the versatility of an SUV.

Baldi: You can see how small it is a segment here but, despite the small numbers, India is a strategically important market for us and will be the fastest growing market for Lamborghini, as it has the highest number of high net worth individuals. 

How has the response been to the Urus in India? 

Baldi: For this year, we are sold out for India. All the cars were sold out in the first week itself, as the customers here were eagerly waiting for the model. Someone who books the car now will get a delivery only in 2019.

Agarwal:  While 30 per cent of the buyers are from the Lamborghini family, the rest have come from outside — they have graduated from luxury sedans and SUVs. The profile is a mix of businessmen and film personalities. We still don’t see professionals buying a Lamborghini.