The Lamborghini: a sleek model of a car that causes great envy to a lot of people who do not own or cannot afford to have one. Interestingly enough, Lamborghini has a long history behind it that did not even include race cars, or cars for that matter. The Lamborghini was a long time coming from the brilliant and creative mind of Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in 1916 in Italy. He joined the army and was stationed on a basically remote island during World War II where his ability to fix just about anything without many tools or parts available was discovered. Basically, if he couldn’t fix it, then it couldn’t be fixed. When the war ended, he returned to his home in northern Italy and decided to go into his own business; repairing and fixing up cars and motorcycles. However, as he lived in a highly agricultural area, he soon noticed that there was a great need for someone who could fix tractors and so he began his venture into tractor repair.
Ferruccio Lamborghini started building his own tractor engines and they became so popular and in such demand that he was producing and selling over 400 a month by 1960. By this time, he’d also developed a love for race cars and had owned and driven several of the top performance cars including the Ferrari. He decided it was time for him to make his own car and that, as they say, is history.
Lamborghini’s first car was a masterpiece and was a V12 with 4 cams. He acquired the help and expertise of excellent designers, even one who had worked on a Ferrari, to develop his first car. The Lamborghini was a hit and production began soon afterwards.
After many shows and races, the popularity of the Lamborghini only intensified and now there were a lot more investors and other companies looking to get in on the production and profits. As the decades went by, Lamborghini was bought and took over by many different companies, including Audi and Volkswagen and even the American company Chrysler. Many fretted and worried about Chrysler taking over the Lamborghini; however, the Diablo was born of this merger and although there were cultural differences, the teams were able to work them out and work out environmental and other problems together.
After Chrysler, Lamborghini had to be sold again and this time it was to Audi. For Lamborghini, this was a huge blessing as the company was having troubles. Although Audi and previous companies had bought or taken over Lamborghini, they all managed to keep Lamborghini’s name the same. August of 1998, Audi became the sole owner of the Lamborghini and kept up with the cultural regulations the company had been used to. With Audi’s impressive auto collaboration made up of four exceptional car manufacturers – hence the four ring symbol for the Audi denoting the four companies – they had plenty of power, funding, name recognition and respectability to keep Lamborghini still one of the world’s most wanted vehicles.
