Lamborghini Sales Down 37.7 Percent In 2009, Leads To $47.6 Million Loss

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Viknesh Vijayenthiran

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Vik is an Editor at High Gear Media and contributor for a number of sites within the High Gear Media network. He was a co-founder of... More

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Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera live in Geneva. Photos © United Pictures, Int'l.

Luxury sports car manufacturers had a very tough year in 2009. Despite selling the most cars in the brand's history in 2008, in the wake of the global financial crisis, Lamborghini saw deliveries from January to December 2009 reduced by a staggering 37.7 percent from 2,430 to 1,515 units worldwide.

This in turn led to a sharp decline in profits, with Lamborghini reporting a pretax loss of $47.6 million for 2009.

The worldwide economic recession struck all major markets, causing a fall in demand, especially in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, given the weakness of the U.S. dollar and the importance of the market on Lamborghini’s order books, these two factors have significantly affected the overall performance of the company.

Lamborghini also claims that the sudden drop in orders can be attributed to two major causes; the fact that many Lamborghini customers worked in finance and were no longer able to afford their cars, or that it would be a little insensitive for customers to show up in a brand new Lamborghini while their friends and family struggled with finances.

Even with the losses Lamborghini has maintained its commitment to its future product line, testified by a 32 percent rise in R&D spending last year and a continued promise to launch at least one new product per year.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the world luxury car market, there is a silver lining to this cloud at least: the waiting time for a new Lamborghini has dropped from one year to less than six months.

[Lamborghini]