Agarwal stated that the company now has customers in places like Amritsar, Shillong, Lucknow, Udupi, and Ajmer as the demand is fairly spread out
Having established a presence across top cities in India, Italian automaker Automobili Lamborghini is now eyeing customers in smaller centres to generate additional volumes, according to a top company official. The super sports car maker is bullish on the country's economic growth, a rise of first-generation entrepreneurs and large-scale road infrastructure development to fuel future business growth.
In an interaction with PTI, Lamborghini India Head Sharad Agarwal said a few years ago the demand was largely concentrated in bigger cities and metros but now it is well spread out. "We launched a programme and reached out to possible customers in 100 cities. Today we have 50 cities in India where you can find a Lamborghini owner and these Tier I and Tier II cities now contribute to more than 25 per cent of the business. So these cities are becoming very important for us," he noted.
Lamborghini began its India operations in 2007. Last year it sold 92 units in India, a growth of 33 per cent over 69 units in 2021. The Italian brand sells three models -- premium SUV Urus and two super sports cars Huracan Tecnica and Aventador in the country, with prices starting upwards of Rs 3 crore. Agarwal stated that the company now has customers in places like Amritsar, Shillong, Lucknow, Udupi, and Ajmer as the demand is fairly spread out.
"So it is just not restricted to the bigger cities..A lot more first generation entrepreneurs are buying then there are women who are coming and buying..earlier it used to be third or fourth generation entrepreneurs buying our cars," he stated. He said that its luxury sports utility vehicle Urus is leading the charge in the country accounting for 60 per cent of the total sales.
More than 80 per cent of the Urus buyers are first time Lamborghini owners, Agarwal stated. Besides, 10 per cent of Urus buyers have also gone ahead and bought a Lamborghini sports car, he said. "If we look at the country landscape, wealth is not restricted to bigger cities..the overall scenario is changing, people are travelling across the globe and they want to reward themselves with the same kind of lifestyle," Agarwal said.
India is already one of the biggest markets for the Italian brand and the country has huge potential for growth in the coming days, he added. "Look at the current status of the number of billionaires in the country ... Also the kind of infrastructure coming up in the country, the number of expressways which are coming up.. new race tracks coming up..So overall if we look at the entire landscape India has immense scope to grow..." Agarwal said.
He noted that the company keeps in regular touch with the headquarters for more units for the Indian market with the waiting period stretching to over 18 months with the current order book. "We are always putting our request to the headquarters because if you see the 18-month waiting period is pretty long. So we are always trying to find a balance between the waiting period and the supply," Agarwal said.
He further said:"Lamborghini is an exclusive brand, so we are not chasing numbers, we are chasing the right experience for our customers so I think it is always a difficult balance. We always keep asking the headquarters how we can get more and how we can reduce the waiting period a bit." Agarwal said the company's focus remains to grow the business consistently and provide a great experience to the customers. "Doing that, we have a strong long-term future in the market," he added. Globally, Lamborghini delivered over 9,300 cars last year, a growth of 10 per cent over 2021.