Today more than 50% of Lamborghini cars coming off the production line feature at least one Ad Personam feature. At Bugatti, not one car that leaves the Atelier is like the next, having the highest degree of individualization. It should come as no surprise that VW brands Lamborghini and Bugatti are the ones that have conducted the most experimentation with 3D printed parts, among the established supercar brands.
“At both Lamborghini and Bugatti, we will continue to support our customers in expressing themselves in their own unique ways,” said Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti and now also President and CEO of Lamborghini. “We live in an era where brands have to provide meaning and experiences, and luxury has become a means of self-expression, with individualization as the utmost way of doing so. This is a concept that becomes a natural part of what we create, not only in terms of cars but as a key element of the relationships we nurture with our customers.”
The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster Xago Edition was created to celebrate the new virtual Ad Personam studio, offering consultation sessions to clients worldwide who want to personalize their new Lamborghini without traveling to the specialist Ad Personam department in Sant’Agata Bolognese in Italy. It combines a drive for perfection and innovation with a meticulous knowledge of every single detail.
This supercar is a perfect example of how this mindset shapes ideas and creations. It was produced in just ten numbered units and reserved for customers specifying their Aventador SVJ virtually, down to the last detail.
Lamborghini clients can pre-book an initial consultation of around two hours via their dealership, either joining their sales specialist at the showroom or from another location. They are given a dedicated session with Lamborghini specialists surrounded by the extensive Ad Personam options on display. During the video call, the relevant model is present in the Ad Personam studio, with live design proposals and configuration suggestions from the Ad Personam team, using smartphones for walkarounds and to see close-up details. The virtual consultation is followed up with full proposals sent to the client, including renderings and even samples of materials.
Manufacturing on Demand
It will still be some time until 3D printing plays a relevant role in part personalization, due to both design constraints (most parts, even in a Lamborghini, are not designed with DfAM in mind) and material limitations but it seems clear that as this trend further consolidates – and cascades down even to more accessible vehicles – AM will play a part. In fact, while personalization on the Xago Edition focuses on exterior painted patterns, it does so by using the hexagon figure, which has several meanings including the fact that a hexagon has the same outline as a 3D cube drawn in 2D, and thus is often used to represent the transition from 2D to 3D creativity.
In this specific case the pattern was inspired by the hexagon cloud patterns around the north pole of the planet Saturn and the strength of the hexagon in nature. The hexagonal shape in nature is also the expression of the greatest strength as well as the deepest stability, from planets to honeycombs (another shape often associated with 3D printing). It is a masterful force that illustrates how nature tends toward entropy and the calibration of energy with spontaneous states of stillness.
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Author: Davide Sher
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