Background: Lamborghini is the Italian luxury carmaker founded back in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini. The brand was built to compete head-on with Ferrari, and Lambos are known for high-performance supercars and very loud engines. Aka, they're basically four-wheeled announcements that "I have arrived."

What happened: In 2021, Lamborghini laid out an electrification roadmap, saying its first EV would arrive by 2028. They even revealed a concept EV in 2023. But now, Lambo has officially scrapped all of its EV plans because according to the CEO, buyers don't want a quiet car - they want something that sounds like it's about to take off... even if it's just heading to brunch.    

What else: Lamborghini only sold just under 11,000 cars globally last year. And when your entire customer base is that small, you listen very closely. This means that even though the broader auto industry is going electric, Lamborghini is doubling down on what its customers actually care about: the drama, the noise and the roar.    

What's the key learning?

💡You don't mess with what customers actually value, especially in luxury. Lamborghini didn't get EVs wrong... it got its customers wrong by assuming they wanted the same things as the mass market.  

💡Luxury buyers aren't buying function, they're buying a feeling. While most car buyers want efficiency and lower costs, Lamborghini customers want status, theatre and of course the unmistakable engine roar.

💡Even billion-dollar strategies can be reversed if they miss the mark. Lamborghini committed around €1.5 billion to electrification and will now write down part of that investment to avoid alienating its core customers.