Luxury automaker Lamborghini expects to at least double production to 7,000 vehicles per year by 2019 once it rolls out a new sport utility vehicle (SUV), but it will not lose its focus on making sports cars, chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said on Tuesday.
Domenicali said the company plans to cap yearly production of its supercars at 3,500. He also expects SUV production will be at least as high, but could be higher depending on demand.
The Italian automaker is owned by Volkswagen Group through its Audi unit.
The new SUV will go on sale in 2018 with a price tag of about US$200,000.
“We will push like hell to” sell 3,500 or more of the SUVs, Domenicali said in an interview, adding interest in it is high in the US and elsewhere.
“It’s a big game-changer,” he said.
Domenicali, who was named chief executive officer in February, said Lamborghini plans to boost its worldwide dealer network to 160 from 132 now.
About 30 percent of its dealers and sales are in the US, its largest market. Lamborghini sold 3,245 vehicles worldwide last year, including more than 1,000 in the US.
“We will not, clearly, give up on our DNA, which is to produce super-sport cars,” Domenicali said.
Lamborghini is adding 500 employees and doubling the size of its Sant’Agata Bolognese plant in Italy. The company is joining several luxury carmakers that have entered the profitable SUV market, including VW’s Porsche unit.
Lamborghini plans a plug-in hybrid electric version of the SUV by 2020, and could add a zero-emission vehicle.
Domenicali said the SUV could be a platform for future autonomous vehicles, but such vehicles would not hurt the brand.
“If you buy a Lamborghini you want to drive... We are talking about emotions,” he said, adding that steering wheels would not disappear in Lamborghinis.
“In life, technology has to be part of the emotion,” he said.
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