“May we see your phones, please?” One of the two receptionists at Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata, Bolognese factory was polite but firm, “There is no photography inside the factory”. The group of journalists were given tiny stickers to cover the smartphone camera lens. The sight of a group of motor journalists trying to peel the cover off the tiny sticker reminded me of my schooldays in the infants’ class. Seeing grown men and women flustered while holding their breath until their nails finally prised off the back cover was hilarious.
“You’ll be seeing a part of Lamborghini very few people get access to,” we were told, and inside the modern factory with cream walls and frosted glass, we went. It could well have been a major bank’s corporate headquarters we walked through until we arrived at the main rear door, where it was swung open. There, in a Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory moment substituted by cars, we emerged into the bright sunlight and stared down a long straight road ending at the end of the factory backing onto Via Montrone, a small rural artery road in Sant’Agata. That’s the trick behind the Lamborghini factory’s frontage. Driving past the accessible entrance with walls that aren’t even waist-high on Via Modena, you’d wonder where all the cars are made behind the modern glass facade.
“We’re taking you to see how we paint the new Urus.” As we stroll along the factory road and past hangar-sited buildings on both sides, I glance at a pair of Revueltos being fettled. “This way, sir, keep going.” I was not being allowed to poke my nose inside, and any dilly-dallying was off the agenda. Lines of Lamborghinis were parked sporadically on both sides. Suddenly, a V12 wails behind me as we stroll past an open car park with a roof, with new Lamborghinis clad in protective white wrap waiting to be transported to dealers around the world.
The shrieks of engines continue as they reverberate against the buildings. “This is great, right?” says one of the journalists to me. Everyone is a little taken aback – right here is the genesis of every Lamborghini car on the planet. The birthplace of children with Lamborghini dreams to the ubiquitous pouty Instagram starlets posing next to Lamborghinis in downtown Miami.
We reach the Paint Shop and climb white painted metal steps into the viewing gallery area. Lamborghini itself was established on 7th May 1963 and commissioned Carrozzeria Touring to build the first ever model – the 350 GTV, with only 120 rolling off the production line. Three years later, in 1966, the Miura – the first car with a V12 mid-mounted engine appeared. Between that time and today, we’ve seen models such as the Jarama, Espada, Urraco, Silhouette and Countach break cover, even the wild – and challenging to drive – LM002. Yet it is the Urus, now a hybrid petrol/electric super SUV, that brought the volume of cars sold to 10,687 in 2024. In 2025, the factory campus expands to 180,000 square metres with a carbon-neutral footprint achieved ten years earlier.
This led to the expansion of the Lamborghini factory site and the establishment of its own in-house Paint Shop facility, which previously was outsourced.
The Urus is available as a Urus SE, Urus S and Urus Performante. The Urus SE I had driven the previous day may have been an SUV, but the performance numbers are still Super SUV with capital S – 320km/h top speed, 3.4 seconds to 100 km/h with 789 combined ICE and EV power. We drove around Tuscany, taking in one downhill stretch that made a good stand-in impression of North Carolina’s Tail of the Dragon road, it was possible to throw the big Urus from side to side on the tightest bends so violently that your stomach starts to grumble before the SUV runs wide.
For the first time, AI technology opens the possibility of an unlimited colour palette to craft your very own Urus exterior. We are shown the four paint options – Standard, Special, Matte and Ad Personam. The facility processes 25 cars a day following these individual paint stages – KTL, or known as cathodic dip coating, which is common in the car industry for paint protection, primer, base coat and the final clear coat. Our guide stresses that Lamborghini only uses water-based paint, not salt-based paint. One known benefit is that the paint is odourless.
Walking along the Paint Shop’s small corridor, we stop at an intersection leading up to an elevated viewing gallery. After putting on protective overalls and climbing a few steps, we are looking down on the paint production as Urus SUV shells at the BIW (body in white) stage move silently along a robotic formation. Paint Shop specialists were looking at a computer software programme for the car’s special colour. Each new staff member is given six weeks of training, with 40 Urus cars produced daily over two factory shifts.
30 per cent of those are sold in the United States. Typically, a Lamborghini has around a 10-year model lifespan. The Urus is now 7 years into its production, and with the new hybrid architecture, a fully electric range of 60 km is available. Before you get the keys to your new Urus, each car is driven by engineers to identify any issues on a small factory test track.
About half an hour later, we leave the Paint Shop and step out into the bright Italian sunshine. For such an emotive and storied brand, the Lamborghini factory appears strangely accessible and quiet, with low buildings that seem less imposing for visitors. Just then, a burst of noise erupts – a Revuelto V12 is fired up, and two factory engineers stand over the colleague working in the car. Somewhere, someplace out there, a new customer is counting the days until they climb into their new car. Sant’Agata is truly a maternity ward for big dreams. To think it all started back in the 1960s when making tractors.
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Mark Gallivan – Motoring Journalist