Lamborghini opens new R&D facility
Lamborghini has undergone a massive growth spurt in the past few years. Having gone from a company only known to true car enthusiasts to a household name that's plastered on everything from sweaters to laptops has taken a toll on the tractor company, and it's forced them headlong into the 21st century, with Audi and VW AG at their side... for better, or worse.
However, as much as Lamborghini's sales success has had an impact on the volume of models available in their showrooms, it hasn't had a huge effect on their actual geographic holdings. Borrowing heavily from Audi's invested assets to develop everything from powertrain components to production methods, Lamborghini has been forced to lean heavily on their owners when it comes to research and development, and it's had an undeniable effect on their product. So, in what was hopefully undertaken as an effort to mitigate any further Audi DNA finding itself inside a Lamborghini, Lamborghini has finally opened up a new research facility of their very own, in the Emilia region of Italy.
Sadly, the resulting building looks as if it could have been torn from Munich, Berlin, or perhaps even Ingoldstadt. Furthermore, in the grand German tradition, it appears to be ridiculously efficient, and is the first multi-story industrial building in all of Italy to earn a Class A energy rating. Interestingly, it incorporates a miniature production line intended to allow Lamborghini to study upcoming models' production, step by step, in an effort to ease the teething problems that have plagued so many exotics. Considering the accompanying photos include one of Lamborghini's much talked about Estoque sedan, and that small-run exotics don't typically warrant extensive investment in pre-production quality control facilities, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that all this might indicate that a change might soon be taking place in Lamborghini's lineup.
And one can't help but wonder if a brick-shaped building that's among the most efficient in the world is this really the place that's going to be responsible, in part, for shaping the future of the world's most ridiculous, over-the-top automaker?
