Meet Stephan Winkelman – the man leading two of the most storied supercar makers in the world.
Stephan Winkelmann; @bugatti
Stephan Winkelman, one of the most famous executives in the automotive industry, had the privilege to manage Bugatti and Lamborghini companies separately in recent years, and he can now do this for both together.
With effect from 1 December 2020, Bugatti President Stephan Winkelmann will additionally take up the position as President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. on top to his current function. The Bugatti President will therefore have a dual role. “It is both a great honour and pleasure, but also a great challenge for me to manage these two companies, which are very special to me with their exceptional cars,” says Stephan Winkelman.
For Winkelman Bugatti stands for the most superior, powerful, elegant and luxurious hyper sports cars in the world. Lamborghini builds the most exclusive super sports cars with outstanding design. Both companies still have so much creativity yet to be explored.
Stephan Winkelmann was born in Berlin in 1964 and grew up in Rome. After passing his A-levels at the German School in Rome, he studied political science in both Rome and Munich. Before Winkelmann took over as head of Lamborghini in 2005, he had been employed by Fiat in various functions, including Chairman of the Board of Management at Fiat Auto Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In March 2016, Winkelmann moved from Lamborghini to quattro GmbH (today Audi Sport GmbH), which he managed in the role of CEO for two years. Winkelmann was appointed President of Bugatti on 1 January 2018, a role which he will continue performing in the described dual role from 1 December.
Over the last three years, Stephan Winkelmann has successfully initiated and driven forward a number of exciting projects at Bugatti. Never before has Bugatti presented so many different and unique projects in such a short period of time, such as the Divo1, La Voiture Noire2, Centodieci3, Chiron Pur Sport4, Chiron Super Sport 300+* and Bolide5. Last year Bugatti set a speed record that is still valid. And with the now delivered Divo, Bugatti has also transformed modern coach-building for the 21st century.
Lamborghini is also well-known territory for Stephan Winkelmann: he was President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. in Sant` Agata Bolognese, Italy, for over eleven years up to 2016. In these roles, Winkelmann successfully expanded the brand into one of the world’s leading super sports car manufacturers, and was responsible for making substantial investments in the company’s future. Under his leadership, Lamborghini experienced extremely fast growth: sales were more than doubled, while sales revenue more than tripled. This growth was due to the success of the Lamborghini Aventador and Huracán super sports cars – but even the decision to launch the bestselling Urus was taken under the direction of Stephan Winkelmann. Together with his team, he also realigned sales structures for the future. Stephan Winkelmann will be taking over the responsibilities of Stefano Domenicali, who has decided to leave Lamborghini at his own request after four successful years with the company. He will become the new CEO of Formula 1 from January 2021.
@bugatti
