News: Viva Italia! India welcomes Lamborghini

(BS 15/07/2006) Mumbai - The super rich have another object of desire to covet. Italian super luxury sports car maker Automobili Lamborghini SpA today launched two models of Lamborghini in India: Lambroghini Murcielago, priced at Rs 3 crore, and Lamborghini Gallardo, for Rs 1.6 crore.

It also launched Gallardo Spyder, a variant of Gallardo, priced Rs 20 lakh more at Rs 1.8 crore.

Starting today, these will be available through Exclusive Motors in India. Lamborghini counts among those machines whose demand exceeds supply. It sold less than 1,000 units a year until two years ago.

The number revved up to 1,600 in 2005, encouraging the company enough to set a target of 1,900 for this year.

India is definitely not a big market for the likes of Lamborghini. In all the company hopes to lure 10 customers in a year.

"Six units have already been sold, even before we unveiled the car today," said Satya Bagla, managing director, Exclusive Motors. Bagla, draws an imaginary zip from one end of this mouth to another. The target for next year too is 10.

Over a million cars may sold in India every year. But the market for super luxury vehicles does not exceed 50 in a year.

"There is no reliable estimate on now many we sell in India. But it would be less than 50," said Bagla. The target is the 80,000-odd millionaires in India.

"That is the big audience. But once we get a fix on how many will be interested in a car like this, the list narrows down considerably," Bagla adds.