At the heart of Sant’Agata Bolognese, the V-shaped emblem of design and engineering hit a milestone this October: Lamborghini officially celebrated the 20th anniversary of its in-house design studio, Centro Stile. What began as a strategic bet has grown into a defining pillar of the brand’s identity—shaping not just contours and surfaces, but the very philosophy of how Lamborghini conceives future performance machines.
The festivities were held in a discreet but dramatic setting, attended by key figures within Lamborghini’s leadership, former designers, and select journalists and collectors. But the headline surprise came in the form of a striking new concept: the Lamborghini Manifesto. Pitching itself not as a future production model but as a bold design proclamation, the Manifesto reinterprets and projects the underlying DNA of Lamborghini styling into a sculptural, hint-of-future form.
The Manifesto’s design is daring: it dispenses with traditional doors, features an all-glass greenhouse that obscures the interior, and relies on silhouette, proportion, and surface tension to make its statement. It feels of a piece with Lamborghini’s history of audacious design, yet unmoored from immediate functional constraints. In announcing it, Lamborghini’s Design Director, Mitja Borkert, framed the concept as a “visionary sculpture” intended to illustrate potential paths forward—even if it never reaches the road in its current form.
This unveiling is more than just eye candy. It signals a confidence that Lamborghini has matured as a design house. Two decades ago, the prospect of housing design entirely in-house in the supercar world was bold. Lamborghini’s move, spurred by guidance from Audi’s leadership and visionaries like Walter de’Silva, brought forward thinking about brand coherence, design continuity, and integration between aesthetic and engineering ambitions.
In its early years, Lamborghini had long relied on external designers such as Bertone, Pininfarina, and Touring to wrap engines and drivetrains in form. But in 2005, the launch of Centro Stile shifted that paradigm. From that moment, nearly all Lamborghini models—including the Murciélago, Gallardo, Aventador, Huracán, and the newer era’s hybrid HPEV machines—would bear the direct imprint of the studio’s evolving philosophy.
Over time, Centro Stile has established a layered methodology. Designers, engineers, aerodynamicists, material scientists, and branding strategists all share the canvas of each car’s development. That integration is what gives Lamborghinis their recognizable balance: aggressive, angular forms that retain a kind of organic motion. The anniversary celebration revisited many of these legacy pieces. Early sketches, three-dimensional models, clay forms and full prototypes were displayed—tracing the arc from Murciélago to Revuelto, from sculptural concept cars to limited “few-off” commissions.
Lamborghini’s Chairman and CEO underscored how design today is not superficial garnish. He described Centro Stile as a driving engine of the brand, responsible not only for production vehicles but for crafting special editions, one-offs, concept experiments, and even ventures beyond automotive—into apparel, architecture, and artistic collaborations. The brand sees its design language as a cultural asset as much as a product one.
Reflecting on 20 years naturally invites reflection on what has changed. The technological landscape when Centro Stile was founded differs starkly from today. Where physical clay modeling, hand sketching, and manual prototyping once dominated, the studio now leans heavily on digital tools: parametric modeling, generative design, 3D printing, virtual reality validation, and advanced material simulation. Where powertrains were simpler, the advent of electrification, hybridization, materials like carbon fiber and composites, and aerodynamic complexity demand far tighter mutual adjustment between design and engineering.
In the current moment, as Lamborghini transitions to hybrid architectures across its model lineup, Centro Stile faces new demands. Styling must now accommodate cooling, packaging, battery modules, weight distribution, airflow ducts, and thermal management—while preserving the raw drama and emotional appeal the brand demands. The Manifesto may gesture toward how that tension can be resolved: silhouette first, structural constraints second. It is ambitious, in that sense—a provocation as much as a promise.
With the 20th anniversary, Lamborghini also invited a broader gaze outward: to how the brand’s identity resonates in a shifting automotive world. The studio’s work across limited editions and collaborations—whether in yachts, audio, or lifestyle objects—reinforces that a Lamborghini is not just a vehicle but a symbol. The anniversary underlined that style has become central to the brand’s value proposition.
For those closer to home, the celebration of Lamborghini’s design ethos might prompt questions about how that global identity is experienced locally. In Vancouver, for example, Lamborghini’s presence is anchored by Lamborghini Vancouver, located at 1720 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6J 1H6. That dealership functions as the exclusive local gateway for new and pre-owned Lamborghinis, service, parts, and brand events. The designers and brand stewards in Italy shape the forms; the dealer in Vancouver brings them to local roads, where the curves and proportions find context in mist, tree shadows, and Pacific daylight.
In Vancouver, when this new anniversary campaign arrives—whether through special models, design showcases, or Collector’s editions—the dealership may host events or displays that reflect the central message: Lamborghini’s emphasis on style is not flash, but foundation. If the Manifesto or derivative elements ever reach boutique editions or design study models, Vancouver enthusiasts may have the opportunity to see them in person.
Yet perhaps the deeper significance lies not in which local showroom sees which car, but in how Lamborghini convinces an audience increasingly attuned to sustainability, electrification, and conscious consumption that style still matters. To stay relevant, design must be more than dramatic—functional, meaningful, future-aware. Lamborghini’s designers and engineers seem to understand this: the Manifesto, while extravagant, does not shy away from daring gestures about proportion, aerodynamics, and silhouette.
In the months ahead, industry watchers will watch for cues in upcoming models—how much of the Manifesto’s aesthetic seeps into production lines, and whether the next generation of Lamborghinis carry forward a more radical design agenda. But for now, on this twentieth anniversary, Lamborghini chose to honor its history while casting a visionary glance forward. The Manifesto concept may remain a styling buck, but it is a clarion call: that design will remain central to the identity of the raging bull—and that the next twenty years should be as audacious in form as they are in substance.