Main article: History of Lamborghini

Manufacturing magnate Italian Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the company in 1963

with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with offe
rings from established marques such as Ferrari. The company's first models were
released in the mid-1960s and were noted for their refinement, power and comfort
. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coup, which establ
ished rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive as the standard layout for high-performa
nce cars of the era.
Lamborghini grew rapidly during its first decade, but sales plunged in the wake
of the 1973 worldwide financial downturn and the oil crisis. Ferruccio Lamborghi
ni sold ownership of the company to Georges-Henri Rossetti and Ren Leimer and ret
ired in 1974. The company went bankrupt in 1978, and was placed in the receivers
hip of brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran in 1980. The Mimrans purchased th
e company out of receivership by 1984 and INVESTED heavily in the company's expa
nsion. Under the Mimrans' management, Lamborghini's model line was expanded from
the Countach to include the Jalpa sports car and the LM002 high performance off
-road vehicle.
The Mimrans sold Lamborghini to the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. After replacin
g the Countach with the Diablo and discontinuing the Jalpa and the LM002, Chrysl
er sold Lamborghini to Malaysian INVESTMENT group Mycom Setdco and Indonesian gr
oup V'Power Corporation in 1994. In 1998, Mycom Setdco and V'Power sold Lamborgh
ini to the Volkswagen Group where it was placed under the control of the group's
Audi division. New products and model lines were introduced to the brand's port
folio and brought to the MARKET and saw an increased productivity fo