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Lamborghini says it could build the Sterrato rally car at a profit

Automobile spent an hour working out the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato concept at the Volkswagen Group's Nardo test track. Naturally, the question of a production version came up. Maurizio Reggiani, Lamborghini's chief technical officer, told the magazine a customer version would be possible, only because "the provisional business case suggests that we can build this car at a profit." And the secret to making money on the car would be 3D printing. The composition of the Sterrato is 96 percent bone-stock Huracan EVO. Same naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 with 631 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, same all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and torque vectoring, same 20-inch wheels. The exterior departures come in the handling software retuned for dirt and loose surfaces, a 1.85-inch lift, fender flares and a one-inch wider track, off-road tires backed by mud guards, aluminum plates front and rear. and those auxiliary LED lights. The cabin gets a titanium roll cage and five-point racing harnesses. Perhaps save for the software, the edits are cosmetic add-ons, and Reggiani said Lamborghini can fabricate "all restyled or new body panels, claddings, ducts, and splitters on 3D printers." The carmaker developed a kind of plastic especially for the cause, "a lightweight synthetic material which is in its final shape bolted or screwed onto the finished body." The Automobile piece said Lamborghini would need to assess the material's durability, and perhaps sort out a different solution for the "armadillo rear-window cover that messes up what view there is." There would also be the "jackhammer noise level" to attend to. Otherwise, the mag's assessment is that the Sterrato is "even more playful than its brethren, and the mere prospect of enjoying a long cold winter in a hard-core sports car is bound to make quite a few Lambophiles reach for their checkbooks." The case for the car is presented as the Sterrato forming one in a line of special edition Huracans that will maintain interest in the model until the replacement arrives in 2023 or 2024. Next year we'd get the hardcore Huracan STO, or Super Trofeo Omologato. A potential Sterrato could show in 2021, limited to between 500 and 1,000 units, sold for about $271,000 each. That's about $9,000 more than the 2020 Huracan EVO AWD coupe. A Huracan hybrid would be follow in 2022, a Huracan Superveloce providing the model's backstop before the successor.

Lamborghini downshifts toward record sales

Reuters reports that the Lamborghini Huracan is doing exactly what it was intended to do for the brand: increase sales. The company set yearly sales records up to and including the first full year of the global financial collapse, moving 2,430 units of the Murcielago and Gallardo in 2008. But even 1,144 combined horsepower couldn't keep that momentum going, and by 2010 that had dropped to 1,302 sales worldwide. Retail success returned with the markets and buyers who deemed it finally safe to be seen in a brand-new six-figure car. Last year, the company set a sales record of 2,530 units, a 19-percent increase over 2014. In an interview with Reuters, company CEO Stephan Winklemann said that Lamborghini should break that number this month. The momentum is coming from the US and Asia, specifically Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Sales in mainland China are "broadly flat," but that has to be considered success when other much less spendy carmakers are hurting something awful in the People's Republic, and luxury makers have returned their primary attentions to the US. Next year could be even better, with the Huracan Spyder going on sale in the spring. Two years after that, the brand plans to double its current sales with the arrival of its supersport crossover, which has a target of "about 3,000" per year. Related Video:

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