Lamborghini’s boss wants to build a ‘Holy Trinity’ hypercar – here’s why he WON’T

TopGear.com has quizzed Lamborghini chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann in the wake of a record year of profits for the Sant’Agata supercar maestros. Here’s what he told us about the future of the raging bull…

TopGear.com: Stephan, whenever the phrase ‘Holy Trinity’ is mentioned around new hypercars, Lamborghini isn’t in that conversation. Are you jealous of that?

Stephan Winkelmann: "I think that we always need to be consistent. When it was time to reinvest, there was always the need of doing the ‘base’ supercars first. Then we had the third model [Urus]. We decided to do that. Then, we decided on a fourth model [Lanzador].

"We are always looking into it. We are halfway between the top of the supercar [class] and the hypercar [class].

"It's always a strategic decision but for sure, I have to say that if somebody would ask me ‘what you would like to do [as a range-topper]’, it’s a hypercar. The Revuelto clearly positions the Lamborghini brand, but a hypercar on top of that would suit us very well.

"But we have to decide always where to put the money and be strategic. If you look into what happened in the last 20 years our competitors like Ferrari were selling in the thousands when we were selling in the tens! We had to build up the brand from scratch at the beginning for this millennium."

TG: Lamborghini now has two supercars (Revuelto and Temerario), a successful SUV (Urus) and an incoming EV (Lanzador). What’s the next segment you’d like to conquer?

"The Urus, in my opinion, was the right choice because Lamborghini has not always been just a supercar company, [it has made] other things like the Espada – a 2+2 seater – and the LM002. [In the] history of Lamborghini, you cannot just nail it as ‘a supercar company.’

"I don't think there's anything below Urus. To do a smaller SUV is not something we are looking into because in my opinion this dilutes the value of being in the top segment. And I see the Lanzador as a [modern-day] GT car with high ground clearance for everyday usability.

"Where there is space is higher than where the Revuelto is. But this is a matter of putting a huge additional effort in the company in a segment [with prices] north of one million. To have cars which are even more exclusive

"Or, to go into another niche, which is feasible, is what we did with the Essenza. To do non-homologated cars which are not able to race because they are not fitting in any category in terms of power or power-to-weight. These are the only things which I see possible for a brand like Lamborghini."

TG: So you’d never consider another four-door car, like a Lamborghini super-saloon?

"We see the Lanzador as a two door 2+2. We did the Estoque concept car back in 2008 when we still thought this [would be] for the limo market. But today limousines in Europe are almost not surviving anymore. If you go to the US or into Asia, you always have to have a long wheelbase, and the long wheelbase don't fit in our way of thinking.

"We are about driving cars. We are not chauffer’s cars. So in my opinion, this is not something which we would follow up."

TG: Most sports cars tend to be joint-ventures. Even Toyota could only justify the Supra by sharing it with BMW, and Audi always said the R8 would never exist without Lamborghini. Yet the Temerario has a bespoke platform and V8 engine. Will you allow it to be shared within the Volkswagen group?

"There is nothing planned so far, not with the V12 and not with the V8.

"Everybody understood that it's worth the investment because the huge business cases. It’s clear that the size of Lamborghini now is in a position that we can afford to do those things because this magical triangle: high investments into technology equals high prices, equals low volumes. The high prices have to be there because of the investments and the material costs… and this is automatically creating low volumes. This is a very difficult-to-balance equation!

"Only [building] supercars? You risk a lot. Therefore, the Urus was the right car because it put us into a position to be safer and to reinvest in the supercars."

TG: Speaking economically, in the same way that Porsche fans say the Cayennes and Macans pay for the GT3s, has the Urus paid for new V8 and for the V12 to live on?

"I'd say it would be wrong to put it this way. It put the company into much safer waters. We were a one-model company, then a two-model company with all our eggs in only one basket. I think that with the SUV, it's also a bigger segment, so it's easier to do volumes."