Lambo asks rappers to not wrap

The promotional mileage that car brands get from celebrities, and exotic car brands in particular, is huge and rappers like Travis Scott, Chief Keef, Playboi Carti and Swae Lee have all riffed about their Lamborghini Urus.

But the exotic Italian car-maker suggested to carsales it wants customers to avoid modifying their vehicles in such a way that might devalue the proud brand… although it hasn’t gone as far as saying it will do anything about customers who do get creative.

Speaking at the local reveal of Lamborghini’s new $500,000 hybrid Urus SE in Sydney this week, Asia-Pacific regional director Francesco Scardaoni trod carefully around the controversial subject of letting owners do what they like with their cars, such as the Hot Wheels-inspired Lamborghini Urus owned by celebrity rapper Chief Keef.

As far as owners personalising their cars with wild vinyl wraps, Scardaoni said, “We always suggest to owners to personalise the car with Lamborghini’s Ad Personum programme, but also pair the exterior colour with interior colour that matches, with all the details that we can do.”

When asked if such crazy customisation devalued the brand, Scardaoni wouldn’t answer directly but said, “We prefer that we have our cars that are designed with our official Ad Personam programme, we believe it’s the best expression of personalisation.

“We believe that if the car is kept original and designed with our Ad Personam, customers can really go though a list of colours that is never ending.”

While Scardaoni’s comments clearly suggest Lamborghini does not condone wild customisation of their products, the company has not (so far) gone to the lengths to stop the practice that arch-rival Ferrari has.

Ferrari has been known to set their army of lawyers onto customers modifying their cars, such as Canadian music artist Deadmau5, who vinyl-wrapped his Ferrari 458 and rebadged it as a ‘Purrari’.

Lamborghini’s customer base has evolved, particularly since the 2018 arrival of the Urus SUV, to include many celebrities including rappers (some of whom literally sing the praises of their Urus) such as Travis Scott, Chief Keef, Playboi Carti and Swae Lee.

As more exotic cars continue to appear in pop culture the idea that Lamborghini’s are purely owned by more mature drivers is changing.

“In Asia Pacific we have a few countries such as China and Korea that have the youngest customers, with an age average of 36 years old,” explained Scardaoni.

“In terms of average age, Australia is aligned with the average of 42-46,” he added.

Now the brand is seeking to attract a different type of customer yet again – although whether a new cadre of rappers can find imaginative ways to weave the word ‘hybrid’ into their art form is another question altogether.

“With the introduction of the new hybrid models starting with the Revuelto, we saw new customers arrive, customers that wouldn’t sit in our cars in the showroom if not having a sustainable product, in terms of C02 emissions.

“So we can attract more customers that are focussed on sustainability,” Scardaoni explained.

“We also saw a high ratio of female drivers, in Australia we are close to 20 per cent. We believe we will continue this trend.”

For some time Lamborghinis were considered weekend cars, but now more Lamborghini drivers than ever are using their cars as daily drivers.

This is particularly the case in the Asia Pacific markets including Australia.

They’re not just daily-driving the Urus as you might expect, but the supercars too, according to Scardaoni.

“Asia Pacific is the region where we see the shift the most in terms of use, many more customers use their cars as daily drivers. It started with Urus, it was able to attract 70 per cent of customers new to the Lamborghini brand -- but also the rest of the cars too,” he insisted.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au