Reference Auto

Italian luxury sports car maker Automobili Lamborghini (better known as Lamborghini) may not have a good run in India even though it boasts of owners like Andrea Agassi but with the luxury sports car market in India set to witness phenomenal growth, even though volumes will remain small, the Italian car maker has bet big on India, rolling out the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 for a price of Rs 3.69 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Propelled by a 6.5-litre engine, the Aventador can touch a speed of up to 350 km per hour.

The Aventador has a combination of carbon fibre and aluminium for its structure, with nearly three fourths of the material comprising carbon composites.

The Aventador is crafted from composite carbon materials that are used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The Aventador’s scissors door is its USP. The car also comes with a fancy start-button and three driving modes.

The acceleration is bewildering with the Aventador capable of revving up from 0-100 km/hour in only 2.9 seconds!

The recent Formula One or F1 race in India has not only been an effort by the Indian government to project India as a world-class destination but it could also reap benefits for luxury car makers especially those that make the sports variety, in the medium to long term.

This has prompted Lamborghini to launch its luxury liner, even though at a steep price.

“India is an emerging destination for sports cars, which we have seen from the success of the recent Formula One event. We have already notched 20 bookings for the Aventador,” said James Page, marketing manager, South-East Asia and Pacific, Lamborghini.

He added, “The car saw global rollout in March, and till date, we have received 1,500 orders worldwide. In India, people will have to wait for nearly 18 months to get their car,” Page revealed.

The luxury car maker hopes to sell 20 cars from other models of Lamborghini and double its country sales next year, he added.

Page said although volumes are small in the premium sports car segment in the country (about only 100 units a year), sales are starting to rev up and Lamborghini is contemplating conducting owner-training programmes on the F1 track.

“You will be seeing us on the F1 track. Before, we had to take our Indian customers to Europe but now it can be done here,” Page said.

India, last year, just about scored a century in luxury sports car sales, but with the F1 event raising awareness on luxury cars, this figure could shoot up by 100 per cent and reach sales of 200 cars.

The car will be imported and sold through Lamborghini’s only dealer in India, Exclusive Motors, located in Delhi.

Ferrari’s brandname as a luxury car maker has clearly overshadowed Lamborghini in India and this could impact the Aventador’s prospects in the short to medium term.

Lamborghini has to launch an aggressive ad blitz in order to notch decent sales and the company seems to be wary of it and is testing the waters in India (by completely importing the car) now.

Only by spending huge sums in advertising and by other customer-friendly initiatives like conducting training on the F1 track can Lamborghini hope to have a fairly decent run with its Aventador in India.