The jewel at the top of the Volkswagen Group is no longer Bentley – and definitely no longer Porsche – but a brand that has shaken off a tumultuous past to become a mainstay of profitability in a sector that many are struggling in.

Lamborghini accounted for just 0.65% of sales in the broader Audi Group (which includes Audi, Bentley and motorbike brand Ducati) in 2025, at 10,747. But despite that, the Italian brand accounted for almost a quarter of the group’s operating profits, at €768 million, giving it a profit margin of 24%. 

Of the luxury brands that quote financial results, only Ferrari beat Lamborghini’s margin figures, quoting 29.5% for 2025. Aston Martin remains unprofitable, while Bentley itself managed just 8.3%, down from 14% the year before, with sales that fell below Lamborghini’s, at 10,428.

Lamborghini set a new sales record in 2025, while profits were at their second highest ever.

CEO Stephan Winkelmann was quick to point out to journalists on a results call that they too would have been record-beating had Lamborghini not been afflicted by elevated US tariffs, a weak US dollar and an unspecified financial write-off from the cancellation of Porsche's SSP 61 platform, which was to underpin Lamborghini’s now-axed debut electric car.

“2025 shows that the strength of Automobili Lamborghini lies not only in numbers but in our ability to manage complexity,” Winkelmann said in a statement.

Drilling into the details reveals that the Urus SUV remains the bedrock of Lamborghini’s success, with 7265 sales equating to almost three quarters of the total and still rising, up 8.7% last year, despite the fact that the car turns eight years old this year.

The Revuelto, Lamborghini’s ‘mainstream’ hypercar, recorded 2096 sales, up 49%, while the Temerario replacement for the Huracán was still in its build phase last year.

What’s remarkable is that plug-in hybrids accounted for 93% of all Lamborghini production, with the Huracán now out of the mix.

Propelling Lamborghini’s profits is its ability to keep the average selling price up at almost €300,000 (£260k) in 2025, based on units delivered versus revenue. That compares with €242,000 for Aston Martin and just over €500,000 for Ferrari.

Lamborghini claims that 94% of cars delivered were personalised with at least one element, saying this was a “key factor” in its record revenue.

The question now is whether Lamborghini can continue on its successful path for another year.

One market it doesn’t have to worry about is China, which accounted for just 5% of its sales last year, compared with 19% for Bentley (down from 23%). This means Lamborghini can shrug off the continued reluctance of Chinese buyers to spend big on European luxury.

There are warning signs elsewhere, though. The Middle East is currently “almost blocked”, Winkelmann said, as customers stay home due to the ongoing Iranian conflict. Lamborghini doesn’t break out the region, which it comes under ‘other’, but it's clearly big business, given that ‘other’ comprised 30% of sales last year.

Europe remained Lamborghini’s biggest market, at 38%, which is an asset when there's instability elsewhere. 

The US stood at 27%, down from 31%, as tariffs hit. Lamborghini said that, unlike Bentley, it hadn't pushed up prices to absorb the tariff increases from 2.5% to 15% but had restricted volumes.

“This is not something which is helping our business,” Winkelmann told journalists. “It’s costing something quite significant”. 

He said he hoped that next year customers will have “digested” the idea of tariffs and the market will come back to normality.

One red flag in Lamborghini's financial figures was a 19% drop in production. That was explained by the switchover from Huracán to Temerario, but it still could indicate that Lamborghini had overproduced beyond demand – something that Aston Martin has struggled to control.

The other is the high figure for the Urus. “Lamborghini is completely addicted now to Urus/SUV sales to drive the numbers, which is high risk for a supercar brand,” Scott Sherwood, serial supercar owner and author of the SSO Report, told Autocar.

The Urus was recently updated to switch to the new V8 plug-in hybrid drivetrain, but the car’s age and the general inability of SUVs to form the basis of big-money specials might constrain Lamborghini until a new model arrives – the platform for which again will likely have to come from the wider Volkswagen Group.

“In many ways, Bentley and Lamborghini are on exactly the same path, it’s just that Bentley is several years ahead,” Sherwood said. “Bentley rode the Bentayga up and then has struggled as Bentayga sales have softened. If Urus volume drops, Lamborghini is in a world of pain.”

A sudden interest in electric power among Lamborghini’s customers is unlikely, but the brand’s pivot for the Lanzador concept from wild 2+2 electric SUV to something related but with a PHEV drivetrain restricts the brand’s flexibility to push into EV-friendly markets, unlike Bentley and Ferrari.

Perhaps the biggest danger is that competition toughens too much at the money-spinning ‘specials’ end of the market, with too many players chasing too few ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

“The number of limited editions has jumped in the last few years and just about everyone is pushing them,” Sherwood said. “Ten years ago, if you said ‘no’ on one of these, you were blacklisted; now they come back and offer you another a year or less later.”