2025 represents a historic year for Lamborghini. The Italian brand is celebrating Polo Storico for 10 years, the internal restoration division of the brand. We have dealt extensively since January of this year. Last week we also touched the iconic Diablo that turned 35.
Now another birthday is worth your attention: the 20th birthday of Centro Stile, the internal design center that every Lamborghini has defined in modern times. Design is an integral part of the Lamborghini-DNA since October 2025, and what initially started as an Audi-stunned idea in the early 2000s has since become a model for the entire supercar industry.
“The Lambonghi. – Shown chairman and CEO
For Centro Stilte, Lamborghini worked with established styling houses such as Bertone and Touring, produced icons such as the Miura, De Countach, one of the cars that defined the Wedge era, and the Diablo, one more of Marcello Gandini’s great designs of all time.
While those collaborations confirmed the characteristic extreme Lamborghini Supercar design and extreme proportions, the company did not lack full control. That changed after the subsequent acquisition of Lamborghini by Audi, under the Volkswagen Group. In 2003, when Walter De’Silva, the then head of the Audi design, penetrated an internal studio. Come 2005 and Centro Stile was active at Lamborghini’s head office in Sant’agata Bolognese.
The first generation of centro -stile leadership included Luc Donckerwolke, who uses the Murciélago and the Gallardo (Aka de OG Baby Lambo), cars that Lamborghini have re -defined for modern times. Donckerwolke’s work included the last variants of the aforementioned Diablo, after which the brand left the soft proportions of Thetoward Cleaner, Sharper Surfaces.
Other cars and concepts from this era were the 4-door Lamborghini Estoque concept and the Fighter-Jet-inspired Burst, A car that laid the foundation for the Aventador. It showed that while he treated Lamborghini’s heritage with respect, he was not afraid to modernize the Raging-Bull brand.
After Donckerwolke Filippo Perini came, who pushed Centro Stile into overdrive. His team was small, with only seven designers, but their output was important, responsible for the Aviation-inspired Y-shaped motifs and hexagon that we know today.
The Aventador, Launched in 2011, was the first Lamborghini to be completely designed in -house, and it established the complex, angular design language that still defines the brand. It was followed by the successor of the Gallardo in 2013, the Hurricane.
Perini also supervised the Stealthy-Track-Alleen Sesto Elemento, Veneno and Urus concept, each an example of materials, technologies and themes that were transported in the following production models.
By 2016, Mitja Borkert took over, doubled the size of the studio and broadened the reach. Under his leadership, Centro Stile SVJ variants of the Aventador, the Huracán Performante, and now popularly completed Urus SUV, And launched the Hybrid Revuelto, the current V12 flagship of Lamborghini and the more recent Temario. He also worked on concepts such as the Terzo Millennio, developed with MIT, in which carbon nano technologies and super capacitors were investigated. Centro Stilte also worked on the SC20 by Squadra Corse in 2021.
Building an internal design center was not a cost -saving movement; It was a bet on brand dependence. For more than 20 years, Lamborghini has invested heavily in CAD systems, laboratories of clay, digital 3D printing and even AI-based workflows today. These tools accelerate the design when cutting iteration cycles, so that Lamborghini can run faster than competitors.
“Of course we look at AI to see how that can work for us, with the final decision always a human decision.” – Mitja Borkert.
Nowadays, however, every draft decision must also succeed and meet stricter parameters such as pedestrian impact rules, hybrid packaging requirements and strict emission goals. What this means is that design and packaging remain challenging. It is not about maintaining aggressive relationships, but you must also take into account other parameters, battery cooling, hybrid air flow and lightweight safety structures.
That said, the AD Personam program of the brand brings adjustment to the next level, as we saw earlier this week when Mitja Borkert herself showed three possible variations of the limited Run Fenomeno.
As far as Centro Stante is concerned, it is a strategic engine for Lamborghini that continues to ensure continuity in eras, while at the same time it is experimenting with radical ideas. Its influence has also been extended to other lifestyle areas, including yachts, architecture, high-quality speaker systems, racing simulators and fashion partnerships, which further expanded the reach of the Larborghini brand.
20 years later, the studio wrote Lamborghini’s design line book and is already focused on the next two decades. As a brand that is known as a trendsetter in the Supercar world, we can’t wait to see what they have in store. What Lamborghini then shows, whether it is hybrid, electric or something in between, will come from a design philosophy that is rooted in the ability of Centro Stile to question the status quo while you remain unmistakably Lamborghini.
Images: Lamborghini
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