I am on my way to Sant’Agata Bolognese near Bologna in Italy. Passing deserted country roads and houses I reach “Sant’Agata Bolognese”. The village and the entire area apparently could not participate in Lamborghini's success. At the end of the village I finally reached the Lamborghini factory. I am greeted by an employee who kindly tells me to park in the industrial zone. That turned out to be extremely difficult because all the Lamborghini employees parked their cars there. Finally I found a parking space about 15 minutes' walk from the factory. I'm surprised the remote industrial zone isn't better geared towards Lamborghini fans and visitors.

I registered here for a factory tour and a visit to the Lamborghini Museum.

Visit information and available dates can be found here: lamborghini.com

 

The factory tour costs 80 euros and takes about 1 hour. We are given headphones and shown around the factory in a small group. The tour guide briefly explains how the successful tractor manufacturer Ferruccio Lamborghini was not happy with the clutch on his Ferrari 250 GT because it frequently broke. Enzo Ferrari then told him that he had better continue driving tractors. Not everyone can operate a sports car. Ferruccio then decided to build better and more reliable cars than Ferrari.

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We enter the factory floor and stand in the middle of the Huracán production line. 13 Lamborghinis are built here every day at 13 stations. One pulls a chassis with an already painted bodyshell to the first station. Here, body parts, windows, seats, dashboard, engine, wheels and all other components are assembled entirely by hand. Large screens with a countdown show how long it will be until the next station change. All Lamborghinis are only built to order.

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The Lamborghini Aventador is created in a second production line. There are only six stations here, each of which takes 75 minutes to build, with six cars being completed each day. We've arrived at just the right time to witness the installation of the huge 12-cylinder engine. By the way, only Lamborghinis with 12 cylinders have the famous scissor doors that open upwards. On the Huracán with 10 cylinders, the doors open conventionally... I find it a bit disappointing.

 

After the final inspection, the engine on both production lines is started. A test driver drives the Lamborghini into a cabin where the engine performance and brakes are checked. Afterwards, each Lamborghini is test driven on the streets of Sant’Agata Bolognese.

 

In other parts of the factory, the seats, dashboard and interior panels are sewn from the best leather. You can choose from numerous colors.

 

Lamborghini is proud that everything except the paint is made here on site by its own employees. And also that the factory is still in the same location as when the company was founded in 1963, 60 years ago.