Lamborghini

On a spring day in 1963, Ferruccio Lamborghini walked away from a meeting with Enzo Ferrari and decided to build his own grand tourer. The story goes that he had complained about the clutch in his Ferrari 250 GT, and Enzo told him to stick to making tractors. Ferruccio, who had already built a fortune manufacturing farm equipment, boilers, and air conditioning units, took that as a challenge. On May 7, 1963, he founded Automobili Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese, a small town in Emilia-Romagna that now sits at the heart of Italy's Motor Valley.

The first prototype, the 350 GTV, appeared at the Turin Motor Show later that year. But it was the Miura, launched in 1966, that changed everything. Designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, the Miura was the first production car to place a mid-mounted V12 engine transversely behind the passenger compartment. It became known as the world's first supercar and set the template for everything Lamborghini would do next: audacious design, brute power, and a refusal to follow conventions. The Countach, with its scissor doors and wedge shape, cemented that reputation in the 1970s.

Financial turmoil followed. Ferruccio sold his stake in 1972 and left the company entirely two years later. Lamborghini changed hands multiple times, nearly collapsed during the oil crisis, and survived a disastrous contract to develop the BMW M1. Stability arrived in 1998 when Audi AG, part of the Volkswagen Group, took over. Under Audi's ownership, Lamborghini modernized its manufacturing, expanded its lineup, and began breaking sales records. The Gallardo, launched in 2003, became the best-selling model in company history. The Urus, a high-performance SUV that debuted in 2018, doubled annual production and opened the brand to a new kind of buyer.

Today, Lamborghini produces three models: the Revuelto, a V12 plug-in hybrid that replaced the Aventador; the Temerario, a V8 hybrid successor to the Huracán; and the Urus SE, a plug-in hybrid version of the SUV. In 2024, the company delivered 10,687 vehicles and reported revenue of €3.10 billion. Every car is still assembled at the single factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, where the bull emblem, chosen by Ferruccio after visiting a ranch of Spanish fighting bulls, continues to symbolize a brand built on defiance and drama. [edit]