OK, worthless without pics, having a bit of difficulty uploading.
The assembly lines were really interesting to see, and so different. The Gallardo is so much quicker to assemble and is not 'hand built' in the same way as the Murcie. There is a large section dedicated to leather trimming which for the Gallardo does not exist. The murcie seat is hand built and takes a day to make each seat. The Gallardo seat comes out of a box and gets fitted to the car.
I was interested to see that there is no paintwork done in the factory at all. There were LP640's in various colours on the line, some of the colour combinations were 'unusual'. The factory has just stepped up to building 2.5 Murcies per day, I understood that the intention is to move to 3 per day soon. There are no roadsters in production, but something with a 'more practical roof' is in the pipeline.
700 people work at the factory, they were proud to tell us that the few hundred that have been recruited recently with the increased output have very largely been Italians relocating from elsewhere in the country.
The passion for Lamborghini is clear, I was ' blown away' by the whole experience. I formed the impression that the Gallardo is welcomed, but is not viewed as a real Lamborghini [I'm not going to quote anyone, but these are not my words]. The next model, in a couple years to replace the Murcie will be the watershed, is this going to be something hand crafted and machined in Sant'Agata, or will it arrive in boxes to be assembled.
During the visit, I mentioned that it would be helpful if I could get access to an electrical schematic for my Diablo. A 'phone call was made and after some chat in Italian, I was asked, 'do you know of Valentino Balboni ?'. The telephone was passed to me and I explained to Mr Balboni my request, and he explained the situation. I can tell you first hand that Valentino IS Mr Lamborghini.
I went with half an eye on a Gallardo purchase, and I came away believing that the most desirable car in the factory and museum was the very last Diablo 6.0
09-12-2006, 02:16 PM
I went to Sant'Agata yesterday
