Orange County, one of the largest global markets for Italian carmaker Lamborghini, is playing a growing role in the company’s plans to electrify its fleet of luxury vehicles.
Lamborghini Newport Beach’s new Irvine showroom this month hosted the West Coast debut of the company’s newest V12 model, the hybrid Revuelto.
It features Lamborghini’s 12-cylinder engine combined with a plug-in hybrid system for the first time, with just two vehicles made to date.
“It is a better performing car but also a more sustainable car than the generation before,” Lamborghini Chairman and Chief Executive Stephan Winkelmann told the Business Journal.
The company is investing 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) into its electrification program, titled Direzione Cor Tauri. The goal is to reduce emissions by 50% through 2028.
The next step in this strategy will be hybridizing Lamborghini’s Urus and Huracán models throughout 2024. By 2025, the entire Lamborghini lineup will be hybrid. A fourth model and the first fully electric car is planned for 2028.
“It will be a car with a new idea in terms of body style and design but also very much of the Lamborghini DNA,” Winkelmann said.
Growing Market
California is the top performing U.S. market for Lamborghini, contributing to 25% of total U.S. sales. The state is Lamborghini’s fifth-largest market worldwide behind the U.S., China, Germany and United Kingdom.
Within the Golden State, its two best-selling markets are Orange County and Beverly Hills.
The company relocated its OC showroom from Costa Mesa to Irvine in 2020; the new 6,000-square-foot location is nearly twice the size of the prior space.
“The move was paramount for ongoing success,” Winkelmann said.
Dream Cars
The Revuelto has a top speed of 217 mph and can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds. Production is underway with deliveries expected to start in the last quarter of this year.
The manufacturer’s first hybrid vehicle represents its first step in creating more electrified vehicles over the next five years.
Lamborghini delivered 5,341 vehicles globally in the first semester of 2023, 4.9% more than the year before.
According to Winkelmann, the luxury car market came back much faster than expected following the pandemic and doesn’t seem to be flattening. He said that many of its models are currently sold out for at least the next two years.
“It’s still going very strong, despite all the things that are happening globally,” Winkelmann said. “Here in California, we have a market which is very stable—and we have a good partner here with Pietro Frigerio.”
Frigerio is the dealer principal of Newport Beach Automotive Group.
Winkelmann is Lamborghini’s longest-standing chief executive and leads the company into its 60th year in business.
The hybridization and electrification processes are a key part of investing in the future of the company, the executive said.
“We have to see that we are fulfilling the needs of the customers but also be up to date and continuing to build dream cars—otherwise, we would be out of the market,” Winkelmann said.
