Lamborghini bets big on Indian market

Automobili Lamborghini India Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of the Italian super luxury sports car maker, expects sales to grow at a fast clip in the country in the next two years as positive economic indicators and a stable policy environment fuel growth in a segment which counts ultra high net-worth individuals (UHNIs) as its target customers.

“We now see a consistent policy with no major drastic changes happening. This will help stabilise the market and get it into a growth phase,” said Sharad Agarwal, head of Lamborghini India, on Friday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Lamborghini Aventador S in the city. Priced at ₹5 crore, this is the second of three models the Italian sports car maker has lined up for India in the current year.

It launched the Huracan Spyder RWD (rear wheel drive) last month and will be bringing another model from the Huracan family later this year, Agarwal added.

A total of 90 super luxury cars (priced above ₹1 crore) were sold in India in 2011. Over the next four years, he said, volumes went downhill, showing growth only last year—75 units sold in 2016 against 60 the previous year.

The other players in the super luxury cars space include Ferrari from the Fiat Group, Masserati SpA, Bentley Motors Ltd and Porsche from Volkswagen.

“The way the industry is growing, we see the segment reaching the three-digit mark in the next two years,” Agarwal said.

In India,importdutyonluxury cars is at 170% but the actual cost comes to two-and-a-half times the import value, he added.