Lamborghini Offered $111 Million In Incentives To Keep SUV Production In Italy

Lamborghini is being offered incentives by Italy's government to make sure the automaker builds a future SUV in the country, according to people familiar with the matter.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government may offer as much as 100 million euros ($111 million) in tax breaks and other benefits to ensure that final assembly of the Lamborghini Urus takes place in Italy, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Lamborghini unveiled a prototype of the high-riding Urus at the 2012 Beijing auto show. Lamborghini has since been refining a business case for the vehicle in an effort to win approval to go ahead with production from its parent, Volkswagen's Audi. If approved, the car will vie with the upcoming Aston Martin DBX as the world's sportiest SUV.

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TheSteve - 5/5/2015 9:27:16 AM

+2 Boost

Governments using taxpayers' money -- worse yet and far more likely, money they don't have and which they borrowed -- to create "incentives" to factories, is merely robbing taxpayers, giving the booty to an automaker corporation, and hoping that the money will end up in the pockets of some taxpayers in the form of wages and "saving some jobs."

It's a futile proposition, in the long run. Car buyers aren't willing to pay thousands of dollars more for a vehicle just because it was made by more humans. Because of this well established purchasing pattern (AKA "all other things being equal, a lower selling price DOES matter to the consumer"), manufacturers are always looking for more ways to cut costs. Cheaper labor is a big one, that's why manufacturing plants all over the western world are moving operations to where labor is a lot cheaper, like Mexico, and most recently, China. That's where they can cut 80% of their labor costs!

When those societies' standard of living gradually increases, as do workers' wages, and they no longer provide a 5x advantage for labor costs, robots will replace cheap labor. Take a look at the Tesla plant, here almost everything is done my machines, even the stuff that needs "teams of craftsmen" in other plants, like installing dashboards, seats, windshields, etc.

MDarringer - 5/6/2015 8:51:36 AM

+1 Boost

Look at the mess taxpayer funded incentives bought Chattanooga!