Automobili Lamborghini, established on May 6, 1963 – sixty years ago – realised Ferruccio Lamborghini’s dream of becoming a sports car manufacturer. Today, the company is world-renowned, but over six decades there have been many ups and downs – and even a curious and highly fascinating South African twist.
With over 2,000 employees, Automobili Lamborghini is a formidable company that delivered 9,233 cars in 2022. However, Ferruccio Lamborghini started from scratch when he founded the company in 1963. To set up his new company, he chose a location in Sant’Agata Bolognese, just a few kilometres from his hometown of Cento, to build his new factory.
Construction of the initial part of the factory, considered to be one of the most modern of its time, was very fast and finished in just eight months between the autumn and winter of 1963, and on October 20, when Lamborghini invited the press to the launch of his first car, the 350 GTV prototype, the completed main structure of the factory was already visible in the background of the photograph.
Right from the start, the founder and his very young engineers showed a passion for ground-breaking innovation and a desire to disrupt the dogmas of the sports car world. These values, which still form the company’s cornerstone today, would lead to the birth of legendary cars such as the Miura, coined the first “supercar”, the Countach and the Diablo that inspired the entire automotive industry with its spirit and its styling.
Anniversary Events
Over the years, Automobili Lamborghini has continued to evolve, creating icons of unique style, technology and performance, inspiring entire generations and millions of people by sharing its DNA and the values on which it was founded. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Automobili Lamborghini has organised events worldwide, each unique but all engaging customers and their Lamborghinis; the official Lamborghini Clubs; and the dealerships and fans around the world.
The 60° Anniversario Giro tour takes place in May, ending in the main square of Bologna, Italy, with the Concorso in Piazza. This concours d’elegance and festive party is open to the public, and hundreds of Lamborghinis, collectors, and fans from all over the world will gather to celebrate the brand’s illustrious history.
Events are also planned in the United States and China (with the ninth running of the ‘Giro China’), and in September, a gala dinner and the ‘60th Anniversary Polo Storico Tour’ will take place in Italy. In October, the Vallelunga circuit in Rome will host the first Lamborghini Festival, where the House of Sant’Agata Bolognese will celebrate the brand’s track-oriented cars.
In November, the Super Trofeo Lamborghini Grand Finals, the one-make championship reserved for the Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 race cars, will be held at Vallelunga. The official Lamborghini Clubs around the world, present in 24 countries with more than 1,600 members, are also planning anniversary tours and events in their respective countries.
Early History
Over the last 60 years, Lamborghini’s headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese has undergone upgrades, extensions and reconfigurations based on production, environmental and technological needs, but it has never lost its original core structure.
In 1966, when gearbox and differential manufacturing was moved in-house, the production, offices, test rooms, and service workshop could be found in the 12,000 m2 covered area of the original structure. There were two assembly lines: one for the engines and mechanical parts and the other for car assembly with ancillary machinery for parts production and vehicle tuning.
The offices, spanning 260 meters and located along the front and in the centre, included the president’s office and the offices of the technical and sales departments. In 1968, Lamborghini announced the imminent completion of three new industrial buildings, adding 3,500 m2 of covered area.
These buildings housed a modern, well-equipped test department, and the photograph of the time shows the department under construction, as well as a 400 GT, an Islero, an Espada and two Miuras. Production went from 67 Lamborghinis in 1965 to 425 in 1971, falling to 55 in 1979 due to the economic crisis of the 1970s.
The South African Twist
As the world financial crisis began to take hold, Lamborghini’s companies faced financial difficulties. In 1972 Ferruccio Lamborghini sold 51% of the company to Swiss businessman Georges-Henri Rossetti, and in 1974, after the oil crisis, the remaining 49% to René Leimer. It was during this time that South Africa received the rights to assemble Lamborghinis locally, and even made a bid to buy the iconic Italian brand.
In 1976, Cape Town-based architect Gerrie Steenkamp initially set up Interplan Investments with the idea of moving into the world of industrial design. However, research showed a gap in the market for a locally built sports car, so he established Intermotormakers (IMM) under Interplan.
The idea initially was to develop a new car (it did later happen with the Caracal), but news of Lamborghini’s troubles led IMM to purchase the rights to assemble Lamborghini (and Lotus Cars) at its premises in Cape Town – the first time than any Lamborghini car would be assembled outside of Italy.
Having acquired the rights, locally assembled Lamborghini models coming off the line included the Espada, Urraco (apparently only one) and Countach. While exact numbers are unknown, word has it the quality of the cars locally assembled from CKD kits was so good compared to the Italian-built units; international buyers started requesting South African-made cars…
However, the biggest twist in this saga came in 1978 when Lamborghini filed for bankruptcy in Italy, and the courts took control of the company. Interplan, combining forces with another backer, then offered to purchase the floundering carmaker and move all its assets to local shores. For reasons unknown, the deal fell through at the last minute.
By then, though, IMM was facing other problems, as the South African government pulled the concession granted for exemption from the Local Content Programme. In August 1979, the company dropped the Lambo assembly operation.
In 1980 the Swiss brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran were appointed administrators of Lamborghini while in receivership. Mimran comprehensively restructured Lamborghini, and with products like the Countach LP 5000 Quattrovalvole and the brutish LM002, made it viable again before selling the company off to the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. This saw a resumption of production, reaching 470 cars produced together with 300 marine engines.
More Turmoil, Audi Stability
Lamborghini was one of the first manufacturers to use carbon fibre in its cars when forty years ago, in 1983, the first carbon fibre chassis prototype of the Countach Evoluzione was created: an absolute first for a road car type project. However, by 1993 the company was in financial trouble again, and Chrysler decided to sell it off.
For a short time, it was under Indonesian and Malaysian ownership (after being bought by MegaTech) before the Audi Group acquired the brand in 1998. This saw development grow exponentially. In 2000, Lamborghini produced 296 cars and employed 440 staff, and in 2001 the renovation of their headquarters was completed.
In 2003, its 40th anniversary, the company was still rapidly growing, with 1,305 cars produced and employees now numbering 624, 145 of which were employed in research and development. In 2006, 2,087 vehicles were produced, with an impressive +30.4% growth compared with the previous year.
In 2008, a new purpose-built logistics centre, covering 11,000 m2 and guaranteeing space for 14,052 pallets, was inaugurated within the Sant’Agata Bolognese facility, and in 2011 the new Aventador LP 700-4 was launched, following the Murcielago, equipped with an innovative in-house designed and manufactured carbon fibre monocoque.
In 2012 a completely new building was erected for prototype development (protoshop), and in 2015 Automobili Lamborghini inaugurated its new trigeneration and district heating systems, helping the plant to attain CO2-neutral certification. The Urus SUV arrived in 2018, and at the plant, a new test track was built, as well as a new logistics warehouse, a second trigeneration power plant, and the new ‘Energy Hub’.
The Urus plant was inaugurated in 2019, and in 2021 the ‘Cor Tauri Management’ plan will lead Lamborghini to electrify the entire product range by 2024, with the introduction of a fully-electric model at the end of the decade – was announced.
Even so, the long road frontage, part of the original 1963 construction, with the proud Lamborghini sign on the roof, is still the most visible part of the company today – the banner of a structure that has evolved over the years but whose DNA remains the same, always with an eye to the future.
Report by FERDI DE VOS / SUPPLIED | Images © AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI
