If, at Lamborghini, it is consensual that design is inseparable from its identity, then for two decades this identity has had its own home: the Centro Stile Lamborghini, founded in the early 21st century, based on the conviction that a brand like Lamborghini must preserve its own creative voice, and fully operational since 2005. After all, when it comes to super sports cars, style is the spark that ignites each project, the defining element that transforms engineering into emotion, and it cannot be less than one of the elements of each model that requires the utmost attention, as emphasized by Mitja Borkert, the head of design at Lamborghini since 2016: “A modern super sports car company cannot rely exclusively on external studios. Design is the primary reason why customers buy a Lamborghini. It must be developed internally, in close collaboration with engineering and production, and in full continuity with the brand’s DNA”.
The Centro Stile is, therefore, currently the beating heart of the creative process at the house of Sant’Agata Bolognese, within whose walls all modern Lamborghinis have taken shape – from the Murciélago to the Revuelto, from the Gallardo to the Temerario – and where the DNA of the Italian manufacturer has been refined and perfected, also through the definition of distinctive elements, such as the Y-shaped light signature or the hexagonal geometry, while ensuring that each new model continues to surprise. Presently, its team consists of 25 specialists from different backgrounds (Italians, Germans, Portuguese, Poles, Americans, Japanese, and Chinese) and ages (from late twenties to over fifty), whether they are exterior or interior designers, responsible for proportions, lines, and ergonomics; whether they are clay modellers, who give physical form to ideas in three dimensions, working side by side with 3D digital modellers, who produce virtual models and visualizations; whether they are color and finish specialists, who create the palettes and materials that express Lamborghini’s personality; or whether they are feasibility designers, who translate concepts into the reality of production, resolving every millimeter of a model before it enters the assembly line.
To keep innovation alive, Mitjia Borkert created what he calls a “crazy corner”: a small group whose mission is to imagine what Lamborghini will be like in two decades, with a free hand to dream without limits, in order to explore new forms of mobility, or radical reinterpretations of Lamborghini’s DNA, in a process where artificial intelligence is beginning to play its role, being used to amplify creativity, generate visualizations, and accelerate design development.
An evident expression of this new vision is the Manifesto prototype, regarded as a “sculpture on four wheels,” in which Lamborghini’s design has been distilled based on a philosophy of radical purity and powerful presence, so that each surface, angle, and proportion provokes immediate emotion. Essentially, it is a statement of intent, created to guide the brand’s language in the coming years: just as the Terzo Millennio, from 2017, inspired elements applied in the Revuelto and the Temerario, the Manifesto (the hybrid hypercar with a 6.5-V12 engine, three electric motors, 1080 hp, and limited production to 29 units) aims to be the new reference point for future Lamborghini models. And if there were any doubts on this matter, one only needs to pay attention to Mitja Borkert’s words: “Every morning, I climb the stairs with enthusiasm to see what the team has created. From sketches to clay, from models to 3D prints, I can already glimpse the models of 2029. That is what the Centro Stile represents: vision, craftsmanship, and the joy of creating the future”.
