Most established auto manufacturers began their industrial histories by building something other than cars. Toyota started with tapestry looms, Peugeot with hand tools, and Kia built bicycles, to name a few. It’s not too hard to see the links between the past and present; each mass-market brand produces mass-market products. Eventually, they all manufacture cars. However, Lamborghini is a bit more interesting. Compared to the wildly expensive cartoonish spaceships they build today, they started with the categorical opposite: cheap tractors.

Founder Ferruccio Lamborghini’s clever mechanic beginnings

Before starting up Automobili Lamborghini after a heated disagreement with Enzo Ferrari, founder Ferruccio grew up farming grapes in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. Driven by a passion for machinery, 18-year-old Ferruccio started his own workshop in 1935 but was quickly drafted into World War II. Fortunately, his tasks for the Royal Italian Air Force included performing maintenance on various military vehicles.

Museo Lamborghini explains that Ferruccio sought to help improve agricultural productivity following the war. Italian tractor makers like Fiat and Landini didn’t offer any bargain equipment attainable by small family farmers at the time. Given his family’s stake in local viticulture and a fondness for mechanical crafting, Ferruccio designed and manufactured his first model to solve the issue, the Carioca, in 1948. Given the state of post-war Europe, raw materials were hard to come by, so Ferruccio had to get creative. He used surplus military equipment, and parts pulled from junked vehicles in his first-generation Lamborghini tractor. It was the second-generation L33 that was the company’s first true in-house model.

Are Lamborghini tractors reliable?

The Countach may have been one of the most uncomfortable, unreliable, and hard-to-live-with Italian vehicles, but the brand’s mechanical field workers are much different. Lamborghini boasts internationally-recognized tractors. One of the reasons why they’re so well known—apart from their flair—is their reputation for resilience.

Like the Aventador, Huracan, and Urus, Lamborghini tractors are known for innovation and stylish looks. For instance, the Lamborghini Nitro 130 VRT won “Best Design” in 2014’s Tractor of the Year. Lamborghini Trattori pulled in the famed Giugiaro Design, incorporating “ergonomics, function, and style.” Its performance is also lauded amongst the best of the brands.

Lamborghini tractor on ‘Clarkson’s Farm’

Despite being far too large for gate entrances, too tall for barns, and too complicated for one television presenter, the Lamborghini tractor on ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ is a Lamborghini R8 270 DCR. Interestingly enough, the tractor melds his two passions, Italian styling, and German engines. Although the tractor is built in Italy still, its straight-six turbodiesel is built by Deutz in Cologne. Its 31-mph top speed isn’t terribly quick but good for something that weighs over 11 tons.  

Does Lamborghini still make tractors in 2023?

In 2023, Lamborghini still makes tractors—a lot of them. In all, Lamborghini Trattori offers 26 types of wheeled and tracked farmyard gargantuans. Nevertheless, the tractor business and the supercar business aren’t linked anymore—only in name. In 1973, the company was bought by an agricultural conglomerate and is now part of the SDF Group. Therefore, the same engineer that put a rowdy V10 into a Huracan didn’t bolt the seats down in the latest Mach 250 VRT.