The variety of Lamborghini’s current lineup and its stature in the automotive world tends to obscure that the company churns out far less than 10,000 cars a year, and there is still room for expansion even if the production numbers won’t grow by that much. Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali dropped a few hints about the long-term lineup plans of the still-small company following the launch of the upcoming Urus SUV in a conversation with Automotive News this week.
One possible direction mentioned by Domenicali is a four-seat sports car in the fairly distant future, in the 2025-2030 time frame. Such a model could allow Lamborghini to field a challenger to the successors of the large grand touring Ferraris, but not necessarily the high-end luxury sedans from marques such as Aston Martin. Lamborghini already previewed something like this in the form of the Estoque sedan concept at the 2008 Paris motor show; that car received interest at the time but was promptly shelved.
A second option mentioned by Domenicali could see a modern reinterpretation of the classic Miura, which was never really received a follow-up as Lamborghini turned its attention to wedge-shaped rear-mid-engined coupes and roadsters. Lamborghini had previously hinted at a Miura comeback with a 2006 concept car unveiled with little fanfare outside of a major auto show: The concept was purely a design study, one that departed little from the Miura’s original design, with Lamborghini curiously unwilling to give it a more prominent role.
The 2006 Miura design study was never really given a proper stage.
As far as timing for a possible Miura comeback, Domenicali stressed that he is open to the idea “but not in the next five years.” Right now, the automaker is focused on launching the Urus, its first truly mass model with expected annual sales of 4,000 units. For context, Lamborghini sold just 3,457 in 2016, split between the Huracan and the Aventador. The company is aiming for 7,000 cars annually by 2019, which will allow it to approach Ferrari’s annual volume of about 8,000 cars per year.
“We used to be very polarizing. People loved us or hated us,” Domenicali told Automotive News about the company’s direction. “Now we are trying to be more cool, younger but, as always, different.”
In a lineup of cool cars past and present, the Miura already stands alone, but we can certainly understand the company’s hesitation for revisiting such a storied design and name.