Nice to get Lambo to pick AZ! :biggrin:
Lamborghini picks Valley for launch of new supercar
Lamborghini picks Valley for launch of new supercar
Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 30, 2007 12:00 AM
The shrieking bark of high-performance Lamborghini engines echoed off the grandstands at Phoenix International Raceway as the famed Italian automaker launched its new Gallardo Superleggera to the world's press.
It was the first opportunity for international auto writers and dealers to sample the power and finesse of the $225,000, 530-horsepower supercar. Auto magazines, newspapers and Web sites from around the globe were represented at last week's event.
"They're flying people in from all over the world to launch this car in Phoenix, Arizona," said Jeremy Hart, a London-based writer who was covering the event for the luxury publication Trump Magazine.
The introduction was followed by a similar driving experience for people from Lamborghini's worldwide dealer network, with 30 in the United States, including one in Scottsdale.
Although it may seem unlikely that an exotic sports car from Italy would be introduced in Arizona, Lamborghini officials said it was an obvious choice.
Three factors helped determine the locale, said Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini's 42-year-old president and CEO.
"We like the weather, we like the racetrack and we like the hotel," Winkelmann said, referring to the Sanctuary Resort in Paradise Valley, where the officials and journalists stayed.
The automaker wanted to quickly follow the Superleggera's debut in early March at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland with the press event, Winkelmann explained, and they wanted a warm, dry climate for the launch. Even balmy southern Italy could not promise two weeks of clear weather in early spring.
As it turned out, one day of the Phoenix-area introduction was rained out.
But another primary reason for the Arizona launch was the importance of the U.S. market for Lamborghini, where 40 percent of its two unique automobiles, the V-10-powered Gallardo and the V-12 Murcielago, are sold. The western United States in particular has a rich Lamborghini customer base.
"This is a very strategic area for us," Winkelmann said. "It's an important part of our world."
Lamborghini invested in the expensive launch despite having orders for all 350 Superleggeras that will be built during 2007 and 70 more already sold for 2008. Even so, he said, it was important for the new product to make a big splash in the world's press, with the new Lamborghini expected to appear on many magazine covers.
"It's very important for this car, for its image. That is the goal," Winkelmann said. "It's important to have Lamborghini in every kind of magazine and newspaper."
So why not build more?
"Always build less than you can sell to drive up demand," he said.
The writers got their first taste of the Gallardo Superleggera, a lighter, more powerful version of the standard Gallardo, with a 30-mile drive from the Sanctuary to Phoenix International Raceway. Fourteen of the low, aggressive-looking coupes, complete with Italian license plates, were piloted down 44th Street and west on Interstate 10.
"Normal" motorists stared goggle-eyed at the parade, some whipping out camera phones to record the passage.
At the track, nine of the Gallardos were subjected to hot laps from the journalists, most of them veterans of racetrack driving. Italian mechanics and race-car drivers were on hand to help keep things under control.
The Gallardo is a thrilling car to drive, especially when unleashed on a racetrack, and each writer emerged after his turn wearing a beaming grin.
"I like it," said Ivan Magot, writer for L'Automobile in Paris. "Good reactions, good sensations."
A dozen languages and various versions of accented English could be heard trackside, with journalists from Britain, France, Denmark, Estonia and other European nations taking turns behind the wheel. One writer, Shubhabrata Marmar, came from Mumbai, India, to try out the Lamborghinis.
Journalists from Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Russia arrived for their test-drives earlier in the week, as well as North American writers from publications in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Many of the auto writers, nearly all men, are jaded veterans of automotive press tours, having traveled to launches in many countries. Yorgo Tloupus, a French expatriate living in London where he writes for Intersection Magazine, said some of the writers spend much of their lives on press trips.
"They live the life of the ultrarich, driving beautiful cars, being pampered in beautiful hotels," Tloupus said. "Then they have to go home to their mundane suburban lives."
