Lamborghini bets big on India; taps 1st gen biz men, women

Italian luxury sports carmaker Lamborghini is betting big on the Indian market, expecting sales to grow in double digits with the emergence of new set of customers such as first generation entrepreneurs and demand coming from smaller cities.

The company, which commands around 40 per cent of the niche segment in India, sold 55 cars last year and expects the market to substantially expand in the coming years.

"The super sports luxury car segment in India has been seeing a change in terms of customers. Earlier it used to be second or third generation entrepreneurs but today we see young first generation entrepreneurs also buying our cars," Lamborghini India head Sharad Agarwal told PTI.

He further said: "Besides, we also see demand coming not only from metros but from smaller cities like Agra, Bhubaneswar and Kochi. That shows the potential that Indian market has."

Lamborghini India is also targeting women to develop as a new set of customers.

"We are taking first steps to tap them by organising drives on city roads and on track, give them a chance to get the Lamborghini experience," he added.

Lamborghini competes with the likes of Ferrari in the segment with cars priced at Rs 2 crore and above with horse power 400 HP onwards.

The company sells a range of sports cars under its Huracan and Aventador families priced between Rs 3.07 crore and Rs 6.2 crore (ex-showroom Delhi).

While he did not share the company's targets for India, Agarwal said: "It's a very important market for us. We are investing a lot on developing our network and effort to reach out to customers. We expect to grow in double digits."

Last year, he said "we saw growth coming back in the market segment after declining in the previous years".

With sentiment improving and economy growing again, Agrawal said demand is expected to increase.

India still is a very small market for the company compared to other global markets. It has three showrooms in the country at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

In 2015, the Italian firm had sold a total of 3,251 units globally with the US the top market with over 1,000 units.