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WORLD / Europe
Exclusivity? Try Lamborghini's $1.4m
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-14 10:35
FRANKFURT -- What price exclusivity? If you ask Lamborghini, one million
euros ($1.4 million) should do it -- before tax, of course.
Stephan Winkelmann, chief executive and president of Italian carmaker
Lamborghini, presents the new Reventon in Frankfurt September 10, 2007.
[Reuters] Frankfurt Auto Show
In a bid to add more prestige to what it already has, the Italian maker
of super luxury sports car unveiled the Reventon at Frankfurt's
international autoshow, a very limited edition car that looks more like
an arrow than anything on four wheels.
With the six-figure price tag, it is the most expensive car that it has
ever built.
Needless to say, Lamborghini has already sold the 20 cars that it plans
to build.
"As soon as the word got out, we sold out in four days," Chief Executive
Stephan Winkelmann told Reuters, adding that they could have easily sold
another 20.
Most of the buyers were men from the United States, Lamborghini's biggest
market, he said.
Some of them are already owners of a Lamborghini, which competes with the
likes of Ferrari in speed and exclusivity.
"We have among our customers movie stars, sports stars... (but) the
majority of our clients are businessmen. Men. Lovers of luxury goods,"
said Winkelmann.
True to its tradition of cultivating an aggressive image, Lamborghini
named the car after a bull that killed matador Felix Guzman in 1943.
Although it is based on its Murcielago LP640 model, Lamborghini's
engineers took inspiration from a fighter jet and reworked the composite
carbon fiber body to accentuate the sleekness and angular edges usually
associated with its cars.
The engine is the same as the LP640: a 12-cylinder rocket that can propel
the car from zero to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds.
By comparison, the coupe version of the LP640 costs a relatively more
modest 219,600 euros.
Lamborghini, which is run by Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) Audi division, will
start making the Reventon in January and deliver them in October.
The car, which came in an opaque grey at the autoshow, has a three-year
warranty.
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