Piston Heads Interview With Stephan Winkelmann

Bruce · 02-11-2007, 10:48 PM

The new order

Everything is changing. The last employee to have worked on the Miura retired in September as did Lamborghini's last sheet metal worker. There's a younger workforce and the queues in the canteen indicate a bigger body of staff. In 1998 there were 300 working for Lamborghini, today 750 but the agnolotti is still worth waiting for.

If Stephan Winkelmann didn't exist, Audi would take it upon themselves to invent him. Of German parentage but raised for the first 20 years of his life in Rome, he ran German operations for Audi and was chairman of the board of Fiat Automobile before being hired to the big office at Lamborghini. He's fiercely protective of the brand yet refuses to be shaken when confronted with the widely received notion that the Murciélago is the last 'true' Lamborghini.

"No, I don't necessarily find that assertion insulting. As a company we need to innovate. What was right in the 1960s is not good enough for today. A big engine and a nice shape are no longer enough and we cannot do what we did forty years ago. Quality, safety and homologation issues see to that."

Full article at SuperCarZone

02-11-2007, 10:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
Bruce Crazy Canadian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: British Columbia Posts: 9,457 My Mood: Thanks: 3,577 Thanked 2,898 Times in 1,767 Posts Blog Entries: 2	Piston Heads Interview With Stephan Winkelmann *The new order* Everything is changing. The last employee to have worked on the Miura retired in September as did Lamborghini's last sheet metal worker. There's a younger workforce and the queues in the canteen indicate a bigger body of staff. In 1998 there were 300 working for Lamborghini, today 750 but the agnolotti is still worth waiting for. If Stephan Winkelmann didn't exist, Audi would take it upon themselves to invent him. Of German parentage but raised for the first 20 years of his life in Rome, he ran German operations for Audi and was chairman of the board of Fiat Automobile before being hired to the big office at Lamborghini. He's fiercely protective of the brand yet refuses to be shaken when confronted with the widely received notion that the Murciélago is the last 'true' Lamborghini. "No, I don't necessarily find that assertion insulting. As a company we need to innovate. What was right in the 1960s is not good enough for today. A big engine and a nice shape are no longer enough and we cannot do what we did forty years ago. Quality, safety and homologation issues see to that." *Full article at SuperCarZone*

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