[nitrous]

The story of how Lamborghini came into being as a supercar manufacturer is well known among petrol heads.
Short version: Lamborghini who owned a regular clutch-failing Ferrari goes to Enzo with the complaint and Enzo asks him to keep his suggestions to his Tractor-making company. This made Feruccino Lamborghini furious, and eventually came up with Lamborghini cars to teach Enzo Ferrari a lesson.

Sports cars, super cars, hyper cars are a very different commodity in the market. They are not bought for A-B commuting. But, because they're bought for the pleasure of owning and driving them. Basically, they're not bought with your mind, but with the heart. And hence, they're marketed differently. Now how does Lamborghini market their cars in India.

Here's how:
1. Bring down a bunch of cars from abroad.
2. Hire a racetrack.
3. Invite some Richie Rich's from around the country
4. Let them drive the machines on the track and get "passionate".

I think they got it all right. Especially the part where they try to 'instill' the passion into one. Anything to keep the cash registers ringing.

A bunch of us went today to shoot some pictures,revel in the exhaust notes and see the Gallardos do what they're meant to do.
As we were shooting some pictures, Lamborghini representatives come out and tell us that this wasn't for us and made us leave.
We felt it was WRONG. If someone feels its normal, please check this video out:

YouTube - Porsche commercial

Now I think they got the most important part WRONG!

What about the passionate petrol heads?
The ones that had a large Diablo poster on their bedroom wall.
The ones that revere their supercars and hypercars.
The ones that actually make the car's "stock" go up and stay there.

Don't WE atleast deserve to just be there?

I think I represent the average Indian petrolhead and I am furious!. This treatment is unacceptable to our community.

PS: This was when Ferrari came for a tour : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1566781-post1622.html

[Gilead]

Nitrous, real sorry to hear about the incident. Lambo should have known better. You or your friends may not be a potential customer today, but you could be in the future, or your kids could be. Very short sighted of them.

I remember being treated like a king in a BMW showroom in the US in 2002 when it was fairly obvious I could not even afford to buy a Toyota! I still hold BMW in high regard due to that incident and I will definitely buy one when I can afford to. If I had been treated the way Lambo treated you today, I would probably be bad-mouthing BMW all over the place.

[black12rr]

Hmm ,I think they are here to do business , who ever pays the price tag is a customer . Simple isn't it ? ....but the thing you mentioned about being passionate ,hardcore lover , do we have something local first , Maruti ?,hamara bajaj?,Reclaim your life ? ..

[Ravveendrra]

Hi Nitrous, That is sad. Definitely not nice and downright rude.

I remember Sidindica had a similar unpleasant experience in the Porche showroom. Fortunately Porche made amends in that case.

I remember when the 612s were doing their road trip. The Ferrari guys let my 5 year old in to have a look-see at the cars and fiddle around inside. One of those pics is my avatar cause he just loves it and never tires of it. Ferrari converted him (and me) with that one gracious act.

Cheers,

[Nikhilb2008]

Nitrous, what happened with the Ferraris?

[SRK]

I too feel sad.

If the companies feel only money is everything then they are wrong.

Who knows, the guy who said you to move out, will open the door to your own lambo someday.

This just shows how Ruthless people have become, the only thing they see is a money.

And yes, if I do get money I might consider buying a prosche...Loved that Ad! hehe!!

[McLaren Rulez]

If only Nitrous could start his own sports car company. That'll show Lambo

[vinaydas]

who said the age of discrimination and caste etc are over this is the perfect example of how people with moolah are treated against normal people.
personally i believe a sales representative should give his full attention to who ever walks in regardless of bank balance/age/dressing sense etc. If the representative fails to do so then he does not deserve to work in their respective fields.
we as enthusiasts have a certain passion for cars/bikes but imbeciles like these will not understand us.


P.S
Loved the Porsche add!!!
i think the VW india add for the beetle,toureg,passat,jetta and polo adopt a very similar concept.

[sdp1975]

Nitrous, isn't there a way you can escalate this kind of high-handed behaviour to the higher-ups ?

[supercars]

The Event was sad but expected. I don't care a dime about Big Sportscars.

I suggest you to get a Lot More Dollars into your pocket and go and buy a Car that can compete with the Lambo and beat it on track.

[DKG]

You know what an Indian once did when he was treated like this? He bought half a dozen of the cars, had them converted into garbage trucks and handed them to the municipality.

Should we alert the Chennai municipality to expect a consignment?

On a more serious note I am not at all surprised. Such discrimination is very much a real part of society the world over. I've seen huge fights outside clubs because people are refused entry for being a different colour or nationality. Its sad but a part of life.

Ultimately its a small mind that discriminates.

[sajands]

Nitrous, sorry to hear your unpleasant experience. Lamborghini indeed is evey boy's dream toy and everyone either has a scale model or poster or evena wallpaper. This is not the way they treat people who worship the super car. Lamborghini has to know about this and if poosible make up to what they have done.

[MileCruncher]

Nitrous really sorry to hear this. I'm definitely sure that the representative told you to go would have locally hired Lambo crony just for the event, who wouldn't know his BHP from Torque.

Anyways I would say that don't sweat too much about this incident and may be send a report of ths incident to folks at Lambo Italy

P.S: Just remembered that Lambo is part of VW Group and soon to be a sister organisation of Porsche. How different philosophy

[Nitronium]

That's just poor brand building!

Who are they to judge? What, based on the way you dress? The fact you dont have armed security guards? I bet nitrous could've thrown facts about the car to the sales rep he'd never even heard of. Lambo India, i understand you wanna keep the moolah boys happy. But not at the cost of doing what Lambos do best. Make people go WOOW!

I agree with McLaren. Start your own sports car co.

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by DKG

You know what an Indian once did when he was treated like this? He bought half a dozen of the cars, had them converted into garbage trucks and handed them to the municipality.

Should we alert the Chennai municipality to expect a consignment?

On a more serious note I am not at all surprised. Such discrimination is very much a real part of society the world over. I've seen huge fights outside clubs because people are refused entry for being a different colour or nationality. Its sad but a part of life.

Ultimately its a small mind that discriminates.

Sorry to go off topic, but wasnt this with some maharaja and Rolls Royce?