History

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 offerings 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 sportscoup, which established rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive as the standard
layout for high-performance 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 Lamborghini sold ownership of the
company to Georges-Henri Rossetti and Ren Leimer and retired in 1974. The company went
bankrupt in 1978, and was placed in the receivership of brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick
Mimran in 1980. The Mimrans purchased the company out of receivership by 1984 and invested
heavily in the company's expansion. 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 replacing the Countach
with the Diablo and discontinuing the Jalpa and the LM002, Chrysler sold Lamborghini to
Malaysian investment group Mycom Setdco and Indonesian group V'Power Corporation in 1994.
In 1998, Mycom Setdco and V'Power sold Lamborghini to theVolkswagen 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 portfolio and brought to the market and saw an increased productivity
for the brand Lamborghini. In the late 2000s, during the worldwide financial crisis and the
subsequent economic crisis, Lamborghini's sales saw a drop of nearly 50 percent.