The tiny Italian automaker with a bull on its logo wasn't so tiny in 2019.
On Monday, Lamborghini reported 2019 was its best sales year ever. The reason? One vehicle: the Urus SUV.
Adding a crossover SUV to the lineup, a move plenty of purists decried, proved to be a boon for the brand.
With a total of 8,205 new Lamborghinis finding new garages in 2019, the automaker reported a 43% sales increase over 2018's 5,750 sales.
Lamborghini sold 4,962 Uruses in 2019 during its first full year on the market (Lambo sold 1,761 Uruses in 2018 during a partial sales year). The SUV made up more than 65 percent of Lamborghini's total sales and nearly matched all of the automaker's 2018 sales.
For reference, in 2013, Lamborghini only sold 2,121 vehicles. Before that, its record was 2,406 vehicles in 2008 just before the economic downturn.
The USA, the land of SUVs, led the way by accounting for 2,374 new Lamborghini Uruses.
In October, Lamborghini reported it had sold a total of 14,022 Huracáns in only five years, a feat that took Lamborghini 10 years to achieve with the V-10 supercar's predecessor, the Gallardo.
Lamborghini predicted 2019 sales would rise to 8,500 units for the year thanks to the Urus, and it was nearly dead on, coming in just 295 units shy of that number.
CEO Stefano Domenicali expects Lamborghini to push past 10,000 units a year in the future thanks to a planned fourth model line due around 2025.
Headed into 2020, the Italian automaker will shift its focus to develop hybrid variants of its next-generation supercars. A patent for supercapacitor tech has already been filed. The system was developed in partnership with MIT and uses a synthetic material to make next-generation high-performance supercapacitors, which are a lightweight energy storage medium that could replace current battery technology.
With 2019 the first full year of Urus sales and 70% of buyers being new to the brand, it's expected 2020 will be an even bigger year for the brand as long as it can keep up with demand.
