Ploughing can be done in style too. On a Lamborghini. Come 2014, Lamborghini tractors, known for their advanced technology and styling, maybe working farms in India.
SAME Deutz-Fahr (SDF) Group, which bought the Lamborghini tractor brand from the uber luxury car-maker, is targeting rich farmers, high-profile individuals with farming interests, as also golf -courses, cricket stadiums and luxury resorts. Though the pricing is yet to be firmed up, Lamborghini tractors sell in Western markets upwards of $20,000 (Rs 10 lakh plus).
“We are studying the market and may introduce some range of Lamborghini tractors in about a year,” said Bhanu Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of SAME Deutz-Fahr India (P) Ltd. “We have not decided on the models that would be introduced in India, so it will be difficult to comment on pricing,” he said.
Interestingly, SDF manufactures some Lamborghini tractor models at its plant in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu. Last year, about 800 of the 6,000 tractors manufactured by SDF in India were of the premium, Lamborghini, category and were exported to Europe and Malaysia, Sharma said.
The rest were Deutz-Fahr — SDF’s flagship but not premium — tractors, of which 2,000 were sold in India and the others exported. The company mainly operates in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Western Uttar Pradesh, western Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
India operation accounts for about a tenth of the SDF Group’s €1.2-billion sales. SDF also manufactures about 15,000 tractor engines in India.
Bullish on India, Sharma says, “Production is highly localised in India and the import component is about 10 per cent. We use MRF tyres and Exide batteries in our tractors.” Over the next three years, SDF is targeting a five-fold rise in sales in India, where the tractor market has been bogged down because of the slowdown.