Founder Ferruccio Lamborghini knew, in 1963, how important the shape and styling of his GT cars would be to his Italian brand, using Franco Scaglione for the prototype 350 GTV and turning to Milan’s Carrozzeria Touring for the first production 350 GT and its evolution to the 400 GT. The softer curves of the 1966 Miura by Carrozzeria Bertone of Turin gave way to the sharp lines and ‘hexagon’ paradigm of the Marzal prototype in 1967, and to the astonishing Countach in 1971 with its signature Lamborghini silhouette: Lamborghini’s design culture was established, laying the foundations for style, detail and proportions that would be exponentially developed by the Centro Stile decades on.

The 1980s saw the first steps towards in-house design, with the 1981 Jalpa on the Urraco base as well as the 1986 LM 002 designed by then technical director Giulio Alfieri, while Chrysler’s subsequent ownership influenced more rounded proportions in the Diablo’s styling.

The move towards an in-house design department was instigated in 1998 with the acquisition of Lamborghini by Audi. New design processes and facilities were established: Luc Donckerwolke joined from Audi as a project manager the same year and was appointed head of design in 2003. Donckerwolke oversaw the restyling of the final Diablo versions, and was responsible for creating the V12 Murciélago launched in 2002 and the V10 Gallardo two years later. Donckerwolke’s talent as an automotive designer was enhanced by his passion and emotional engagement with the brand, with both new cars setting the tone for a more modern, muscular design language with purer lines and clean taut surfaces.

At the beginning of the 2000s Audi’s then brand group head of design Walter de’Silva recommended to the board of Audi and Lamborghini that an in-house design center should be established for the Italian super sports marque, and the new Centro Stile was announced during the 40th anniversary celebrations in 2003, a decision that reflected his vision of safeguarding Lamborghini’s DNA through creative independence and a long-term stylistic strategy. Stephan Winkelmann joined Lamborghini as President and CEO at the start of 2005 to oversee the fast-paced investment and development within Lamborghini, coordinating design, R&D, brand, commercial and marketing teams in a new, integrated way, with the inauguration of the Centro Stile later that year.

With the Centro Stile fully operational in 2005, as Donckerwolke moved on to other roles within the VW group and beyond, in 2006 Italian Filippo Perini was promoted to head of the Centro Stile from his role as Lamborghini’s head of external design. This marked an era of exceptionally fast-paced design and development, picking up from work started under Donckerwolke and de’Silva, who had also developed cars such as the Concept S and Miura Concept respectively, and early progressions of the Murciélago including the roadster. Under Perini an evolved Murciélago LP 640 was launched in 2006 followed by a roadster and the LP 670-4 SuperVeloce in 2009, with evolutions and derivatives of the Gallardo powertrain and dynamics across Spyder, Superleggera and Performante versions.

Perini and a small Centro Stile team of just seven was responsible for design of a fundamental new Lamborghini: succeeding the Murciélago, the Aventador was designed and developed entirely in-house and launched in 2011 and significantly moved on the Lamborghini design language, presenting breathtaking complexities of lines and surfaces. Perini credited the talent of the Centro Stile designers for understanding both the mechanical and aesthetic demands of car design in delivering the new V12 flagship. Launched to critical and commercial acclaim, the Aventador was followed by the Huracán in 2013, successor to the Gallardo, with the Centro Stile also laying the groundwork for the new Super SUV with the Urus concept unveiled in 2012.

The Centro Stile under Perini’s leadership further established its legitimacy as a design hothouse, creating not only production models and their derivatives but exploring new ideas and solutions: always with Lamborghini design DNA at the core while delivering the unexpected. The result arrived in cars such as the 2010 limited edition Sesto Elemento. The extreme Veneno coupé and roadster few-offs in 2013 cemented the ‘stealth bomber’ theme of track-oriented super sports models, with their focus on aerodynamics and radical futuristic design cues to be found in later SuperVeloce and ‘J’ versions of Aventador under Borkert. Concepts such as the more elegant 2008 Estoque and 2014 Asterion drew on Lamborghini’s Gran Turismo heritage to explore four-seater GT and PHEV technology respectively.

With the arrival of Mitja Borkert as head of design in 2016, the Centro Stile entered a new era, increasing its studio space two-fold, and growing its international team members to 25. Borkert moved from Porsche to take charge of Aventador models such as the S and SVJ, and the Huracán Performante, and with the immediate remit to finalize design of the Urus Super SUV unveiled in 2017 to become Lamborghini’s third product line.

The Terzo Millennio ‘third millennium’ electric concept, developed with the Institute of Massachussetts in 2017, demonstrated how Borkert and the Centro Stile held true to the principles of rewriting the rules for future generations. The few-off Sián nodded to the silhouette of the Countach while its ‘lightning’ moniker reflected its powerful aerodynamics-inspired profile and new supercapacitor technology, while the Countach LPI 800-4 surprised again with a retrospective glance to Lamborghini’s heritage combined with its futuristic performance. Over nearly a decade the Centro Stile has evolved the Urus Super SUV including Performante, S, and the SE PHEV model of today, while Borkert headed the all-new High Performance Electric Vehicle (HPEV) Lamborghini Revuelto that succeeded the Aventador in 2023, bringing a refined athleticism to his designs while working with the demands of a new era of hybridization technologies.

The design philosophy of ‘feel like a fighter pilot’ is topical for the Centro Stile today, as focused on cockpit ergonomics, the integration of ADAS systems, and Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) as the challenges of incorporating new hybrid powertrains, aerodynamics, lightweight engineering and complex electronics, collaborating alongside other departments innovating at the Sant’Agata headquarters.

The Centro Stile touches many company areas, including overseeing the Ad Personam department’s offering of virtually limitless colors and trims that harmonize with production models and few-offs, and expanding the expression of Lamborghini styling into collaborations with appropriate partners.

Alongside the inspirational evolution are the practical developments, in digital technology that has evolved through CAD CAM and simulations to 3D printing and now Artificial Intelligence.

The HPEV Temerario that made its dynamic launch this year, completes the full hybridization of the Lamborghini production car model range: the first super sports car brand in its segment to do so, while in summer 2025 the V12 HPEV Lamborghini Fenomeno was presented in celebration of the Centro Stile’s 20th anniversary. The most powerful Lamborghini ever, it is a few-off in true Lamborghini tradition, delivering a design manifesto for the future.