Yesterday, Italian sports carmaker Lamborghini launched a new dimension in the luxury sports supercars in India, with the Lamborghini Huracan. Said to be filling the space created by the Gallardo, the Huracan now retails in India for Rs 3.43 crore. We spoke to Mr Pavan Shetty, Head of India Operations at Automobili Lamborghini, on the production front and the plans for Lamborghini in India.
The Indian market is poised to become a global automotive hub soon and auto manufacturers worldwide have recognised the country’s potential in this aspect. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to find what the pulse of the market is and where the Indian customers’ preferences lie. Here too, Lamborghini has done its research well. Talking about their market strategy, Mr Shetty said, “The car has been launched worldwide with a difference of one or two months in between. In order that our product becomes easily visible, we did a sneak preview at the beginning on the year. We showed it to a select few customers in three cities in India and it was quite a successful way for interest generation. Now we have bought it to let the customers see it, feel, it, and people can go ahead and see what they want.”
Continuing with the Indian market scenario, we also inquired about the upcoming dealership in the country. Lamborghini has two dealerships in the country – Mumbai and Delhi. The third one will be inaugurated in Bangalore, in November, as confirmed by Mr Shetty.
Going back to Lamborghini headquarters, we asked what the production schedule at the Sant'Agata Bolognese plant in Italy will be like. Now, the plant produces only two cars, the Aventador and the Huracan. He told us, “The schedule at the plant is extremely busy. The response to this product, worldwide, has been extremely good. To give an example, usually in the month of August, it is a lean period in production because it is summer, but this time, in August, everybody was working. So it was exciting period for us and I am sure we are going to be busy in the coming months as well.”
Another important aspect of the car is the how closely one can customise the car and Lamborghini has taken care of that pretty well. He told us that the customers can make the car as close as to what they want. From the car seats, to the stitching, upholstery, colours, everything in the interior can be customised according to personal comfort and satisfaction and any number of permutations and combinations can be worked out.
Back in 2012 when they launched the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 and Gallardo LP 570-4 Edizione Tecnica, they had invited auto journalists to a track day at BIC, Delhi. On asking if something similar was planned with the Huracan, Mr Shetty informed us that an event was in the pipeline but a track day and other such events require a lot of logistical planning. “Customers have to be flown in, cars have to brought in, the technological aspects have to be looked into. But once a year we do intend to do such events and if there is scope for more, we do plan on more,” he said.
Already the throaty exhaust note of the Huracan is enough to turn heads around. We got a sample of that in the launch itself. The deafening roar of the Huracan silenced everybody in the hall. We asked him what about the colour palette. There is an online Huracan colour configurator available but in all the bookings they have received in India, a beautiful yellow and the striking red are in demand among the customers. We even tried to worm some probable customer names out of him, but he politely declined to comment.
The dealers and market reports give us some kind of an answer as the car has received a superb response from the luxury super-car-loving crowd. There is news that India’s dealerships for Lamborghini have received confirmed bookings for the Huracan exceeding the set quota for the Indian market. This, in a small way replicated the success it has achieved in the rest of its markets. The Huracan has notched more than 700 orders under a month of its launch at the Geneva Motor Show. It is now left to be seen how the bull assumes charge in India.
