Lamborghini Ownership and History
Here at McLaren Chicago, Lamborghini is one of our favorite collectible car brands. Of course, we have a special soft spot for McLaren, but Lamborghini has a vibe all its own that fulfills a delightful niche in the supercar landscape. Cruising the streets of the Windy City in a Lambo is a powerful experience.
On particularly long and leisurely cruises, however, we’ve found ourselves wondering about the folks behind this unique brand. As such, we decided to investigate for an answer to the question: who owns Lamborghini?
Today, Lamborghini is owned by Audi. Ownership of the brand has changed several times since its founding in 1963. Past owners include the Chrysler Corporation, Malaysian investment group Mycom Setdco, and Indonesian group V’Power Corporation, In 1998, Lamborghini was sold to the Volkswagen Group, who placed it under the control of its Audi division. The brand remains there to this day.
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What is Audi?
Audi AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. It designs, engineers, produces, markets, and distributes luxury vehicles. The modern era of Audi began in the 1960s when Auto Union, as it was then called, was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz.
Is Volkswagen owned by Porsche?
Though Lamborghini is commonly described as simply being owned by Audi, those who delve deeper will find another intriguing development: the Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, is indirectly majority-owned by the Porsche family. The members of the Porsche family control Porsche SE and hold majority voting rights over Volkswagen AG, the latter being the largest automaker in the world. The Porsche family consists of the descendants of the Austrian-German automotive pioneer Ferdinand Porsche.
As a result, you might say that to some extent, the Porsche family owns Lamborghini.
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Who started Lamborghini?
Lamborghini was founded in 1963 by a man named Ferruccio Lamborghini. The similarity of the two names is not a coincidence; in fact, Ferruccio used his own name to dub his company. Lamborghini grew rapidly in its first ten years, but sales plunged in 1973 following the worldwide financial downturn and oil crisis.
After 1973, ownership of Lamborghini changed three times. Bankruptcy occurred in 1978. In 1987, the Chrysler Corporation took control of the brand. Chrysler sold Lamborghini to the Malaysian investment group Mycom Setdco and the Indonesian group V’Power Corporation in 1994.
In 1998, V’Power Corporation sold Lamborghini to the Volkswagen Group, which placed it under the control of its Audi division. This is where Lamborghini remains to this day.
