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Automobili Lamborghini
S.p.A.,[Notes
1] commonly referred
to as Lamborghini (pronounced [lamborˈɡini]
(
listen)), is
an Italian
automaker based in the small
township of
Sant'Agata Bolognese.
The company was founded in 1963
by manufacturing magnate
Ferruccio Lamborghini, who
set out to create a refined
grand touring car.
The company's first offerings, the 350GT and 400GT,
were noted for their refinement, power, and comfort.
Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the
Miura sports coupé, which established
mid-engine design as the standard layout for
high-performance cars of the era. After a decade of
rapid growth, hard times befell the company in the
mid-1970s, as sales plunged in the wake of the
1973 world financial downturn and
oil crisis. After a bankruptcy and three changes in
ownership, Lamborghini came under the corporate umbrella
of the
Chrysler Corporation. The American company failed to
return the automaker to profitability and sold it to
Indonesian interests in 1994. Lamborghini's lack of
success continued through the 1990s, until the company
was sold in 1998 to
AUDI AG, a subsidiary of the
Volkswagen Group, a German automotive
concern. Audi's ownership marked the beginning of a
period of stability and increased productivity for
Lamborghini, with sales increasing nearly tenfold over
the course of the 2000s. A
world financial crisis in the late 2000s saw
Lamborghini's sales cut in half, leading CEO Stephen
Winkelmann to predict continued poor sales for
supercar makers.
Assembly of Lamborghini cars continues to take place
at the automaker's ancestral home in Sant'Agata
Bolognese, where engine and automobile production lines
run side-by-side at the company's single factory. Each
year, the facility produces fewer than 3,000 examples of
the four models offered for sale, the V10-powered
Gallardo coupé and roadster and the
flagship V12-powered
Murciélago coupé and roadster. The range is
occasionally complemented by limited-edition variants of
the four main models, such as the
Reventón and a number of Superleggera
trim packages.
Above courtesy of
Wikipeda
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http://www.lamborghini.com/
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