BOERNE, Texas – Lamborghini has shifted into full throttle in the Alamo City.
Lamborghini San Antonio, a brand new 40,000-plus-square-foot dealership and service center officially opened this summer.
San Antonio joins Dallas, Houston, and Austin as exclusive Texas cities to have the dealership.
But the dealership in the Alamo City stands out from all the others because it’s the largest Lamborghini dealership in the nation.
Bruce Knox, managing partner of Lamborghini San Antonio, said the process to land the dealership was not easy.
“It’s very difficult to get a Lamborghini dealership,” Knox said. “It’s a competitive process.”
Knox, who is also managing partner of Lamborghini Austin, knows first hand how much work it is to bring a global brand and operation to Texas.
He played an intricate role in bringing Formula 1 racing to Austin and building The Circuit of the Americas.
“Lamborghini wanted to expand and they want to expand in key growth markets,” Knox said.
The dealership’s grand opening was this summer and it was highlighted by Automobili Lamborghini’s chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann traveling from Italy to attend, which marked his first visit to the dealership.
Winkelmann said San Antonio was a good choice for the company’s newest dealership.
“Texas is a very important market for us. San Antonio is a big city, we already have dozens of cars of Lamborghini driving around here, so it a right moment to open up a fourth dealership in Texas,” Winkelmann said.
It’s a view point touted by the partnership headed by the Vega family to officials with Lamborghini’s North American office.
“We have our regional office which is taken care of by the Americas in Washington, D.C., so they know where the the opportunities are in terms of business, where the customers are, therefore we decide if there is enough space to open up a dealership without jeopardizing the job of the other dealerships around the country,” Winkelmann said.
Knox said the dealership is another example of San Antonio being on the global map. Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, director of San Antonio Economic Development Department, said that the city’s population growth is one of the major reasons why.
“We’re the fastest growing city in the United States,” Hicks-Sorensen said. “20,000 residents just this past year, over 100,000 in the past three years.”
She said the city is currently experiencing a noticeable increase in the number of companies investing in San Antonio, referring to the Toyota’s $531 million expansion project and JCB breaking ground on a new 400-acre facility.
Hicks-Sorensen explained that growth in numbers also means the local workforce is growing while offering diverse skill sets that is attracting what her office called target industries. She mentioned bioscience, aviation, aerospace, automotive, cybersecurity, and sustainable energy as industries that fall into that category.
The companies eyeing and coming to San Antonio can help recruit newcomers to the city, especially the salaries they offer.
“The average salary range in those sectors tend to be anywhere from 70 to 100,000. Of course, that’s the average. So it’s much more upward,” Hicks-Sorensen said.
She pointed to another sector impacted by the city’s growth, an increase in consumer-based businesses.
Hicks-Sorensen explained that retailers locate where people are locating, mentioning as a whole the city’s gross domestic product has been consistent, and that from 2022 to 2023 it rose 6.81%.
She described San Antonio’s economic momentum as having shifted into a higher gear but indicted the uptick in investments is priming the economy for a more robust future.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s definitely something that we’re starting to see,” Hicks-Sorensen said.
Knox said that tracks.
“We invested in the future, not looking at tomorrow, but looking 10 years from today,” he said.
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