BERLIN: Lamborghini SpA, whose sports cars are driven by actor Jamie Foxx and football star David Beckham, said first-half pre-tax profit almost quadrupled as customers bought the faster and lighter Gallardo Superleggera model.
Pre-tax profit surged to 26.4 million euros (US$36.1mil) from 6.9 million euros a year earlier, Lamborghini president Stephan Winkelmann said in a telephone interview. Sales advanced 62% to 253.1 million euros.
“We had a tremendous first half,'' Winkelmann said. “This is basically due to the better mix in our sales, and we are selling cars with more options.''
Sales gained 30% to 1,239 cars in the first half, and Winkelmann forecast a 10% gain this year for the Italian sports-car company, a division of Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker. Lamborghini, based in Sant'Agata Bolognese, boosted daily production to 13 cars last year from one a day in 2000, and returned to profit in 2004.
The Superleggera, introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March, is 100kg lighter than previous Gallardo models and can go from zero to 100km an hour in 3.8 seconds, 0.2 seconds faster than previously.
Lamborghini had already sold or taken orders for 500 Superleggeras, Winkelmann said. “Our limit of the Superleggera is the limit of our suppliers.''
Winkelmann began an effort last year to offer more customisation to boost profitability by increasing the options that customers can choose for cars. – Bloomberg
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