It’s difficult to explain away the dream run that Lamborghini finds itself on at the moment as something of a fluke or an event hinged on a whimsical phenomenon such as “pent-up demand”. From January-March 2021, the Italian carmaker recorded its best-ever quarter in terms of sales with 2,422 units delivered worldwide.
That figure was up 25 per cent compared to Q1 2020, when the world hadn’t yet fully grappled with the economic disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also 22 per cent higher over Q1 2019, when Covid-19 was nowhere on the horizon.
Lamborghini ended 2020 as its most profitable year ever, and the second-best year on record in terms of both turnover and number of cars delivered. It ended the fiscal year 2020 with a turnover of EUR1.61bn, only 11 per cent down over the previous year, and delivered 7,430 cars (second only to the 8,205 units it delivered in 2019) – all of this despite a three-month shutdown of its production lines as a result of the pandemic last year. Lamborghini is keeping up the momentum. “We have an order bank of more than nine months of production, which is very healthy for a company like ours,” Stephan Winkelmann, president and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, told Gulf Business during a pitstop in Dubai last month.
“The Middle East, including Oman, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon and Bahrain, is our sixth largest market in terms of size. Of these, the biggest market today is the UAE, but the market with the biggest potential is Saudi Arabia.”
It takes nerves of steel then for a carmaker to signal that, right within the middle of a dream run, it is altering course and choosing to go down a risky, somewhat uncertain, path that may or may not lead to the same giddy heights of success it finds itself at the moment.
This story is from the June 2021 edition of Gulf Business.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2021 edition of Gulf Business.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Green lights
It hasn’t even been a full year that Stellantis, one of the world’s biggest auto companies, has been in existence. Still, its wheels are spinning furiously. Here’s what it has in store for the region
Purpose through corporate responsibility
Every organisation must deeply reflect about whether they are leaving behind a legacy or a liability, says Abdulaziz AlSowailim, EY MENA chairman and CEO
Analysing the layers of a coconut
When we have a sense of clarity as to our purpose in life, then we institute the correct practices and habits around us, and set realistic and achievable results
DUNES TO DOMINION
FOR A COUNTRY RICH IN TRADITION AND DRIVEN BY AMBITION, THE UAE’S JOURNEY DURING THE PAST 50 YEARS HAS BEEN UNPRECEDENTED. WHAT’S IN STORE FOR THE NEXT 50?
Building strong
International investors are boosting Dubai’s residential property market, which has rebounded strongly from the Covid crisis, writes Aarti Nagraj
CHASING THE AMERCIAN DREAM
FOR SHAI ZAMANIAN, THE US IS A LAND OF LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES, AN AVENUE HE AIMS TO OPEN FOR FAMILIES WORLDWIDE VIA IMMIGRATION. HERE’S HOW HE IS BRINGING HIS GOAL TO FRUITION
OBITUARY: JOCELYN HENDERSON (1921-2021)
THE GRANDE DAME OF ABU DHABI – THE WIFE OF A FORMER DIPLOMAT – PASSED AWAY IN THE UAE CAPITAL AGED 100
THE DIGITAL DISRUPTORS
IN THE COMING YEARS, THE GCC IS EXPECTED TO PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN SECTORS SUCH AS HEALTHCARE, MANUFACTURING, EDUCATION AND RETAIL, WHICH WILL HELP BOOST THE GROWTH OF ITS NON-OIL ECONOMY
Signed, sealed, delivered
Nicolas Baretzki, CEO of Montblanc, partnered with one of the world’s most recognisable luxury brands, Ferrari, earlier this year. Here’s where the partnership, and the German company as well, is headed next
UP, UP AND AWAY
AS THE FIRST IN-PERSON AIRSHOW TO TAKE PLACE SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE PANDEMIC, THE EVENT SAW SEVERAL DEALS ANNOUNCED
