WHILE THE LIKES of Fiat, Honda and Toyota Australia are anticipating an upswing in the global car market, supercar manufacturer Lamborghini does not share those sentiments.
With sales figures dropping off by 30 percent in the first five months of 2009, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann believes that the company will remain profitable even at current sales levels, but does not expect the market to show any genuine recovery until 2011.
“We could stay profitable with sales that are dropping at 40 percent (in 2009). We are foreseeing a scenario that is staying on the same level next year and coming back in 2011,” he said. “I’m prepared to face another tough year in 2010,” Winkelmann told Reuters.
The Italian supercar manufacturer increased its pre-tax profit by 27 percent in 2008 to 60 million euros ($103.3 million) on revenue up 2.5 percent to 479 million as it cut costs.
Lamborghini posted a solid sales figure of 2430 cars in 2008, but on current numbers, that figure could drop to 1500 for 2010.
To prepare for the drop in sales, Lamborghini has cut production by 30 percent for 2010, but despite this, the waiting time for delivery has dropped from a year to just six months.
