High demand revs up sales in Lamborghini’s first year in Greenwich

“People are drawn to figuring out where they are going to go to get an automobile,” Robert DiStanislao, president of RDS Automotive Group, which operates the Greenwich showroom, mentioned in an interview. “In Greenwich, you know that you are going to West Putnam Avenue to obtain an automobile.”

Opening in Greenwich

Lamborghini’s Greenwich showroom opened in February. It is housed in a newly designed white-cube composition that handles a lot more than 9,000 square ft.

“Before we obtained listed here, if someone in Connecticut preferred a Lamborghini, they’d have to go to a locale exterior the point out this sort of as Lamborghini Manhattan or Lamborghini Boston,” Paul Kim, basic supervisor of Lamborghini Greenwich, mentioned in an job interview. “We also provide servicing, as you can not have just any person work on autos of this excellent. So we imagine we’re filling a genuine will need.”

The opening of Lamborghini Greenwich bolstered a extend of West Putnam Avenue that has extended been a nexus for luxury-motor vehicle merchants. Showrooms for the likes of Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Rolls-Royce also work on the blocks of West Putnam Avenue in the vicinity of the downtown.

That confluence of leading-conclusion automotive brands demonstrates their location in 1 of the country’s wealthiest towns, in which the median family cash flow from 2015 to 2019 was $152,577, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

“It’s an essential market place for us due to the fact there are a great deal of substantial-net-truly worth people today in this spot,” Lamborghini CEO and Chairman Stephan Winkelmann explained in an job interview. “It’s a fantastic match for our manufacturer.”

Lamborghini’s new showroom retains up to 3 cars at a time. Complementing the vehicles are interior prospers this sort of as pictures of Miles Davis, Dean Martin and company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini posing with typical models. There is also a portrait of a Lamborghini Miura with a Frank Sinatra quotation that reads, “You purchase a Ferrari when you want to be any individual. You obtain a Lamborghini when you are any individual.”

The “somebodies” who visit the showroom are commonly car or truck collectors — and they have expansive budgets. The 2021 variation of Lamborghini’s top seller, the Urus Super SUV, has a base price tag of about $218,000.

“When men and women customized-purchase the car or truck, they usually add a couple of more choices, so the cars normally transact in the upper 200 (thousand dollar vary),” DiStanislao explained. “They can get various highway wheels, they can get unique inside possibilities, they can change the seating arrangement, they can improve the hues, they can personalize the stitching. If you transform the leather-based upholstery and the stitching variations, you can promptly include an additional $20,000.”

In its to start with year, the Greenwich showroom expects to sell about 70 new Lamborghinis, supplemented by the sale of about 50 pre-owned cars that purchasers have traded in this kind of as Land Rovers and Rolls-Royces.

“We’ve accomplished improved than we expected,” DiStanislao explained. “The desire for the product or service is remarkable.”

The Greenwich showroom and other locations across the region are contributing to a throughout the world growth for Lamborghini. All through the initially 6 months of 2021, it recorded its finest 50 %-yr at any time — with sales growing 37 per cent from the similar time period in 2020 and 7 % from the to start with 50 % of 2019. In the initially 50 % of this 12 months, the business sent 4,852 cars. The U.S. accounted for the largest current market, with 1,502 deliveries.

Executives at other luxurious-vehicle sellers on West Putnam Avenue, this sort of as Miller Motorcars, reported they see place for one more showroom on the road.

“To some extent, Lamborghini is a competitor, but it is really complimentary to our organization and makes,” stated Matthew Horowitz, director of marketing and advertising at Miller Motorcars. “It brings new customers to city who may in the foreseeable future invest in one more manufacturer vehicle from us.”

On West Putnam Avenue, Miller Motorcars operates showrooms for Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bugatti, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, Pagani and Rolls-Royce, as well as a company centre. It also runs an Alfa Romeo and Maserati showroom in Westport and a services heart in Stamford.

Horowitz extra that “sales and company business in 2021 have been sturdy. The pandemic has been excellent for our business enterprise because a car or truck is your personal particular escape pod. It’s some thing you can get pleasure from by your self or with your shut relatives users without stressing about COVID.”

Many issues — but continue to ‘very optimistic’

Lamborghini has made record income inspite of numerous disruptions to the world wide provide chain considering the fact that the commencing of the pandemic.

“There is no doubt that the challenges with the global source chain influenced Connecticut’s dealerships — all vehicles, not just the luxurious automobiles,” said Sarah Fryxell, president of the Connecticut Automotive Shops Affiliation. “With microchips tricky to arrive by and the shutting down of assembly strains by the auto companies at the commencing of the pandemic, dealerships are getting it a challenge to meet desire.”

Now, a Lamborghini customer can be expecting to wait around, on average, about a calendar year to obtain the car. But that timeframe demonstrates the extent to which buyer desire is exceeding the manufacturing unit potential in its hometown of Sant’Agata Bolognese in northern Italy — not due to the fact it is having difficulties to attain pieces.

Winkelmann attributed the company’s source resilience in big aspect to the guidance of dad or mum firm Volkswagen Team, whose other best-end brands contain Audi, Bentley and Ducati.

“They give us the quantities we require,” Winkelmann mentioned. “Therefore, we are not struggling a scarcity of the chips.”

Lamborghini’s extended-term targets include things like launching its to start with hybrid-series output automobile in 2023 and electrifying its total assortment by the conclusion of 2024. It is aiming to lessen its products’ carbon dioxide emissions by 50 % by the starting of 2025. To assistance the hybrid transition, the business is allocating additional than 1.5 billion euros over four decades — the equivalent of about $1.7 billion.

“We are in a period of good transformation from interior-combustion engines into hybridization,” Winkelmann reported. “This is something that is earning our life quite attention-grabbing. It’s quite hard, and we have a good deal on our plate. But we are pretty optimistic about the upcoming of Lamborghini.”