Lamborghini has set a sales record in India, delivering the 100th Urus. This is not just the fastest 100 for any Lamborghini model in India, but Sharad Agarwal, head of Lamborghini India also says, “It is the fastest 100 in the super luxury segment”. The Lamborghini Urus has completely changed the game for the brand in India, Sharad says “Over 50 per cent” of sales are now contributed by the Urus and over 70 per cent of those customers are first-time Lamborghini customers. The sales have been so good that in 2021, Sharad expects Lamborghini to better their record of selling one car a week in 2019. “Our current order intake gives us the possibility to have a phenomenal year,” says Sharad. “2021 should be another record for us.”
Here is the full conversation with Sharad Agarwal, head of Lamborghini India
evo India: What was business like in 2020?
Sharad Agarwal: “2020 was a tough year. The segment was declining by about 30 per cent. The challenges were not only on the demand side but also on the supply side. The factory was shut down for seven weeks, then we restarted, the supply chain took some time to come back to normal. Challenges at the destination, or even at the origin country with customs. It was a tough year and all this contributed to the 30 per cent decline that the super luxury segment saw in 2020. Our decline is more or less the same as the industry — slightly better. What is more important, and how we are looking at it as a business is that Lamborghini had a record trend for the last seven years since its presence in the country — we consistently grew year on year. Now we are looking at 2021 being another record year for us in terms of our performance.”
evo India: In the first few months of 2021, how are things looking?
Sharad Agarwal: “Fortunately, business is very good. I won’t complain much about it. The last four months, with the way we are clocking our new order intake, we are doing better than pre-Covid times. What we are also hearing in the luxury and super luxury segment, I don’t hear the same from any other players in the market. They are still complaining that demand is still sluggish. If I cumulate the last four months, because technically the market started picking up from October, we are ahead of pre-Covid times. We aren’t ahead by five per cent or ten per cent either, we are ahead by a good number. That’s very encouraging.”
evo India: What are your expectations from the new year?
Sharad Agarwal: “Our current order intake gives us the possibility to have a phenomenal year, we have to see how the supply chain and the supply from the factory works out. We also have challenges in terms of QCOs from the government which are restricting the imports because they need to be BIS certified. So, we have to see how all these challenges pan out but hopefully it is going to be another record year for us. One of the biggest milestones for the Urus is that we have delivered the 100th Urus in India in the month of February. This milestone becomes even more exciting because this is the fastest 100 achieved by any model in the super luxury segment. If you recall, we delivered the 50th Urus within the first year of deliveries of the Urus, which means we were delivering almost one Urus every week in the country.”
evo India: How has the Urus been performing in terms of sales?
Sharad Agarwal: “In the first year of the Urus, 70 per cent of the customers were first time Lamborghini customers and this number is going to 75 per cent. So it is clear that more and more people are coming to the Lamborghini family and we are increasing our customer base in the country. When we were launching the car we all had a very strong belief that it will be a game changer for our business in India and it has clearly demonstrated that in terms of its performance in terms of numbers that we are able to achieve with this model in the country. The Urus is now becoming more prominent in our range. I can say that more than 50-per cent of our business today is contributed by the Urus. What we also anticipate and believe, is that in the future this ratio of 50 per cent is also going to grow further. The Urus is the right car which people can enjoy in an environment in India so it is definitely going to drive the future volumes.”
evo India: Has the Urus helped you expand your footprint in India?
Sharad Agarwal: “What we can see today is that from the east to the extreme west to the north and south, in tier 2 cities because 25 per cent of our Urus volumes are coming from tier 2 cities. You can go to Bhubaneshavar, Kochi, Madurai, Surat, in all these tier 2 cities, there is an Urus. This is also helping us increase our footprint further for our sports cars. Once they are coming in to the Lamborghini family, they are also connecting with other owners and understanding that there are challenges with owning sports cars due to the infrastructure in the country, but it is still possible to drive them and enjoy them.”
evo India: Is digital becoming a big part of your sales?
Sharad Agarwal: “Not really. Yes, in certain segments we are seeing that digital is becoming more and more important and significant. For us it is a very important medium to connect, to keep our customers and fans updated on what’s happening in the world of Lamborghini and how we are working toward our brand communication pillars — informal luxury, the designer of experience, or the future shapers. We are dependent on digital on this, but in terms of the sales process — super luxury is still about touch and feel and it is very difficult to take that out. The entire process of buying a Lamborghini is very different and it is highly involved when it comes to configuring and customising the car and we see that it is very difficult for us to actually move that to digital.”
evo India: Are there any plans to expand the dealer network?
Sharad Agarwal: “We currently have three dealers — in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and over the last two years we have made significant investments in the dealerships in terms of expanding infrastructure, adding more people so that we are prepared for the increase in the business that we are seeing with the Urus and with the sports cars. Right now we feel that the current operations are optimal to meet the current requirement, plus for after sales we have introduced some exciting concepts like service clinics, flying doctors, because our car park is now going beyond the metropolitan cities. Lots of cars are spread in tier 1 and tier 2 cities across the country so we are taking those measures. But yes we are also evaluating as we are going that when the time is right, we should look at the network and where we can add and actually go close to the customer. But I think in the current scenario, for at least 2021, I can say that we are not looking at any additional dealers.”
With a prediction to sell more than 52 cars in the year, Sharad expects Lamborghini to grow even further in India and with the SUV craze not looking to die down anytime soon expect to see more and more Urus’ being delivered across the country. Sharad also says that customers love to customise their Urus, adding over 20-per cent of the value of the car in options and going into details similar to what they’ve seen with the Huracan like seat stitching, unique colours, coloured brake callipers and a host of other intricate choices usually associated with sports cars. To further excite the buyers, Lamborghini India is constantly bringing in new models, variants and special editions to the country.
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