Lamborghini’s Showroom Reopens in Vancouver

Lamborghini has had a presence in Vancouver for many years, and recently the Italian automaker’s showroom reopened on West Second Avenue after an extensive renovation. The redesign means that the showroom has expanded by approximately 5,550 square feet, allowing for a wider display of Lamborghini’s growing range of vehicles. Whether it’s the four-wheel-drive Urus, V12 Revuelto HPEV, or the eye-catching Temerario, potential buyers can also take advantage of the updated Ad Personam room, giving them the opportunity to tailor the car to their own desires.

At the reopening event, NUVO had the chance to sit down with the president and CEO of Lamborghini Automobiles, Stephan Winkelmann.

The following has been edited for clarity.

NUVO: For a lot of generations, a Lamborghini has always been the car on a poster in your bedroom, although maybe now it would be a screensaver on someone’s phone. Is that something you keep an eye on actively, to make these iconic cars, and above that, how do you ensure that the next generation coming through will think of Lamborghini in that same way?

SW: Before I come to the real answer, we also have to say that we have 60-plus million followers on social media, and the majority is very young from kids to teenagers and young adults, let’s say, so we are already doing it via social media. The point is that we all know that we are not selling mobility, but we are selling dreams. So you have to overfulfil the expectations of the dreams of your customers, and this is something which then also applies to the young generation, and there are two things: design and performance. These are the two things which you have to fulfil.

More and more is also in the fact that you have to be more sustainable. These are the things which the younger generation is looking into. Maybe they are not expressing it loudly, but this is something which is going to become more and more a matter of fact. Therefore, there are certain things we constantly work on. Design is one, but then to achieve performance [that is] lightweight, aerodynamic, and the combination of the internal combustion engine and the battery technology. These are the things we are constantly focusing on, for sure. If we speak about the design, the fact is that we always have to be very different from the generation before, but also very recognizable. These are the key elements, and this has to be remembered all the time. It is key, as we are living in a very small segment which is spread all over the globe, and we can only be successful if we achieve these elements, or we overachieve the dreams of our customers.

N: Now that the hybrid is the dominant form, it may be difficult to marry the traditional idea of a powerful Lamborghini with a V12 engine with this eye toward sustainability. Was that an interesting challenge to try and take on?

SW: When we took the decision, it was unclear whether it would be successful or not. But at a certain moment in time, you have to decide, and it [the decision] was the wise one because we’d never said we wanted to be the first one, but when we did get there, we wanted to be the best one. And this was, in my opinion, the right choice, not just to say “whenever the technology is available, we do it” or when it’s ready, but when is there the right combination between the technology market and our capabilities to do the right thing. Then we use the hybrid technology, not only for sustainability, but also in terms of performance.

N: Thinking now about this location, and all over Canada, it can be a fairly hostile environment in winter for a high-end car. Does that really affect how you go about targeting a market?

SW: We have, in our lineup, four-wheel-drive cars, especially the Urus, which is an all-rounder, so it can be driven all year and also in the harshest winters. And we also have cars like like the Huracán Sterrato, which was just an example of how unexpected we can be in terms of Lamborghini. Lamborghini is not only a supercar manufacturer. We have had GT cars in the past, and we also saw the LM002, the first luxury SUV. So we have in our DNA much more than just, let’s say, the flight cars. And the fact that they are four-wheel drive, it helps a lot to drive them 12 months a year.

N: Do you find that the Lamborghini customer across, say, Canada to Europe to Asia is generally quite similar across the board? Because they’re obviously incredibly diverse markets. I mean, even just in Canada, it’s an incredibly diverse market.

SW: Yes. Let’s say the profile is mainly male, more than 90 per cent. This is changing due to the Urus a bit in favour of the female drivers. This is something which you cannot force, but for sure it’s an important asset. And then generally, we have the youngest in Asia, followed by the Americans, and the Canadians, and the oldest ones we  have are in Europe. They [the customers] love that it’s made in Italy. They are usually into cars and not only into Lamborghinis, but in general, they love cars and they are a bit of everything in terms of profession from an entrepreneur to artists to sports. We have a bit of everything.

N: For a lot of us it’s from the outside looking in, but Lamborghini ownership almost seems like a club, where people are proud to say I own a Lamborghini, I belong to this community. Is that something that you try to foster intentionally?

SW: What I can tell you is that the purchase and the ownership of the car is the first step. Once you have a Lamborghini, we, as the manufacturer on a global level, and our dealers on a local level, build a community. We do a lot of events together—tonight is one of those occasions. And it’s also important to show up, to get to know the people, to be in dialogue with our customers, and therefore, yes, it’s getting more and more important, not only to own the cars and to sell cars from our side, but also to have always something that you’re organizing for the owners. Then on the other hand, for them, it’s important to have people who are thinking alike, that they can hang around with. So yes, it’s very important to have that sense of community.

N: Specifically, if you think about Vancouver, is there a reason that this is a particularly good location to have such a large facility?

SW: This is a community, which is the one with the highest wealth in Canada. So for sure it’s important to have a good distribution of our dealerships around the globe, and Vancouver is one of those places where we won’t miss having a presence.

N: And I wonder, maybe just a final question, do you have a favourite in the range currently? Not historically, but for sale right now?

SW: It’s always the one we’re working on, of course. The next one.

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