No showroom for Lamborghini and Bentley yet

Luxury brands Bentley and Lamborghini could enter the Romanian market directly when their annual sales will reach the 40-unit mark. “A 35-40-unit threshold in terms of annual sales is needed in order to achieve a critical mass,” stated Kurt Loidl, general manager of Porsche Holding, the company that owns the biggest importer on the local market, Porsche Romania. Even though there is no showroom for the two luxury brands yet, some 30 units have already been delivered to Romanian customers in the last few years, says Loidl, whose company, Porsche Romania acted as a sales agent for some of the sales. The price of a Bentley or of a Lamborghini starts at approximately 200,000 euros. When it comes to a Maybach or a Rolls Royce, starting prices are even higher, some 350,000-400,000 euros. Our assessments tell us that we could at present see an annual volume of sales of 10-15 Bentley and Lamborghini units per year, which is too little to cover our costs,” added Franz Fruehwirth, general manager of Porsche Romania. Whereas Porsche Romania will wait a while before it opens its first Bentley and Lamborghini showroom, other importers will have already taken the first step in this direction. Such is the case of AutoItalia, the representative of Fiat, which opened a Maserati showroom in 2003 and has already sold over 35 cars in the last three years, according to data of the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA). ZF