Lamborghini value edges closer to Ferrari

The traditional maxim of Italian supercars was that Ferrari was the shining star and Lamborghini played catch up with a series of stunning supercars.

But the storming success of the Lamborghini Urus SUV has lessened the advantage of the prancing horse, with Bloomberg Intelligence now suggesting Lamborghini’s valuation is $US11 billion.

Over at $RACE (Ferrari’s stock-exchange handle), meanwhile, its market capitalisation stood at $US38.5 billion on Friday. It has doubled its share price since its 2015 offering, though a 70 per cent poleaxing of Aston Martin’s shares since its October offering suggests it’s not an easy business.

While that seems like a yawning gap, it’s worth remembering that Lamborghini isn’t listed on any stock exchange in the world. Instead, it’s part of the Volkswagen Group, along with Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Ducati and Bugatti. Audi technically owns Lamborghini, though Audi reports directly to the VW board.

The Urus has seen Lamborghini sales boom, with its 1700 units helping the brand to jump 51 per cent last year to 5750 sales. It has perhaps the biggest disparity from market to market of any major brand, with its major market (the US) selling triple the second-placed UK market.

It’s difficult to pin down Lamborghini’s perceived value for the market, though Bloomberg Intelligence insists it has become a viable candidate for the Volkswagen Group to spin off in a partial float, much like FCA did with Ferrari.

FCA only floated about 10 per cent of Ferrari and pulling the same deal with Lamborghini could open up a bunch of cash in a hurry for Volkswagen, though it insists cash isn’t a pressing need for it and there are no plans to float Lamborghini.

Lamborghini’s profit margins sit at around 30 per cent, with a hybrid supercar due on sale next year promising to deliver extra sales impetus and social validation.

Volkswagen has already pulled its commercial operations together into the Traton Group and floated it in June, and a research note from Bloomberg Intelligence’s Michael Dean and Gillian Davis insists there is scope to do the same with Lamborghini.

"VW's partial IPO of Traton trucks sets the stage for further corporate restructuring, which should include a Lamborghini IPO, in our view," they concluded.