Lamborghini contemplates going retail

Ferruccio Lamborghini, as the story goes, approached Enzo Ferrari with ideas on how to improve his sportscars, but Enzo rebuffed him promptly. And so Lamborghini Autobomili SpA was born, hungry to beat Ferrari at its own game, and been trying to ever since.

But making high-performance exotic sportscars is only part of the game these days, and Ferrari is the undisputed market leader in putting its name on anything and everything. But just as its F1 challengers try to claw back a slice of the merchandising pie, so do Ferrari's road car rivals. Lamborghini has followed the Ferrari formula by introducing a wide range of branded merchandise, including partnerships with Nokia and with Asus to produce branded cell phones and laptop computers to rival those made for Ferrari by Motorola and Acer.

Among other strategies for increasing brand awareness and capitalizing on its prestigious name, Lamborghini is reportedly considering opening a chain of retail stores to sell its branded merchandise. Raging Bull merchandise is already sold in authorized dealerships and online, and at a small number of retail locations mostly in Italy, but opening more stores around the world is a strategy that has been working for the Prancing Horse, and if it works for Ferrari, it just might work for Lamborghini, too.

[Source: CNN Money via Luxist]