Lamborghini (4)

But before thinking about his next poaching journey, he first had to finish his acquisition of Lamborghini and leave a functioning management team and a clear goal for the future for his new company.

Within the next few days both lawyer teams finally managed to conclude the transaction and Simon Smith effective immediately acquired 99% of the Lamborghini Automotive company.

His first step as new owner was to ask Ferrucio Lamborghini to stay as the position of CEO for another year while the transition of management power was taking place.

His second step was to reassure the technical personal that their job was in no danger due to layoffs and that he would even further invest in developing new technology and new patents.

Simon even left them with six research topics he needed them to develop within the next two years. He was willing to significantly increase their research funding for this purpose. The six inventions were as following.

Cassettes

Cassettes presented the first opportunity for ordinary drivers who couldn't afford a Rolls to pick and choose their driving soundtrack. Glove boxes, footwells and door compartments were all crammed with the tiny and affordable music boxes, and it remained that way until the early '90s.

Bumpers

As more and more cars were sold and the roads were becoming increasingly congested, it would seem insurance companies were becoming concerned by the number of pay-outs they were having to make. Innocuous and low-speed collisions were leading to expensive repairs because cars were often fragile and fitted with minimal protective features. Simon needed the engineers of Lamborghini to significantly increase the security of their bumpers, while keeping an elegant look for the face of Lamborghini.

Anti-lock braking system (ABS)

Anti-lock brakes as we know them today were invented by Mario Palazzetti, working for Fiat at the time, in 1971. He initially called it 'Antiskid' before Bosch acquired the patent and renamed it ABS. Simon wanted to replace Bosch and use the ABS-System as a major feature of Lamborghini in the future. Meanwhile he could make a good relationship with Fiat if he bought one of their still unused patents for a large price.

Catalytic converter

The catalytic converter is an emission control system (emissions are currently a big problem in the US) that takes the toxic pollutants from the engine and converts them (shock) into a less harmful substance. Stricter emissions regulations in 1975 meant that most cars produced for that model year were fitted with catalytic converters. Simon wanted Lamborghini to not only stand for elegance, power, and mystery, but also include environmental protection marketing early on. He knew that by building up an image of caring about the environment now would significantly help Lamborghini with marketing in the 21st century.

Airbags

The early years of airbags were littered with incidents and bad press, to the point that Ford and GM lobbied against their use, although GM eventually started marketing its airbag system as an alternative to three-point seatbelts. By the early 1980s, however, airbags were implemented in much the same way they are today. As the third major invention concerning the safety of their passengers, Simon naturally insisted on developing Airbag technology as soon as possible.

Digital Dashboard display

The first car to feature a digital instrument panel was the Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2 in 1976. Simon was pretty sure that car technology was not quite ready to feature a digital dashboard yet, at least in the 1970s. But he at least wanted the patent and to create the first ever car with such highly developed digital technology.

Lamborghini would have a lot of highly sensational marketing topics they could use in the coming years, if they were to successfully develop those six technologies.

Of course, Simon was aware that just having superb technology would not help Lamborghini to beat their eternal rival Ferrari. The deciding factor would be the design of their cars and the power of their motors. For the motor technology Simon could only tirelessly invest research funding and poach talents in this field, as he had no real future knowledge in this field. For the first time his biggest advantage couldn't help him.

This made him acknowledge that even with a mind from 40 years in the future, sometimes basic scientific research could not be avoided.

But when it comes to design Simon was at a large advantage. He didn't even need to hire some of the famous designers that would come up with the new models of Ferrari or Lamborghini in the next decade, because he could simply design them all by himself as one of the most popular graduates of New York's Institute of Fine Arts in recent years.

Simon gifted Lamborghini with two legendary design drawings. The first car would be designed in 1972, just one year from now on. The legendary 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400SV. The design was based on the work of the former chief designer of Lamborghini, Gian Paolo Dallara. Unfortunately, he already left Lamborghini in the late 1960s.

The second design was a lot more futuristic and put the design and technical team of Lamborghini in front of a large task. The 1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV was the pinnacle of the Countach series. The first series of the Lamborghini Countach was going to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971, just one month later, and it immediately became a legend thanks to its futuristic design that seemed out of a science fiction movie. The 1988 design would further improve this status and had the potential to become the best designed cars of the entire 1970s.

Overall, Simon's promised investments and philosophy as well as his beautiful designs quickly integrated him in the company and the management was really convinced of their new boss. Ferruccio Lamborghini was extremely pleased with this development and could truly expect a great future for his dream car. While being relieved from the heavy burden of the automotive company he could now finally focus on his other struggling assets.

On February 26th, 1971, Sarah and Simon finished their vacation in Italy and finally took their return flight to New York. While in Italy he asked Stanley, his secretary, to hire a lawyer from their family's firm and financial personal of Deloitte to audit Lamborghini and keep their financial records in check. Any major investment, even for technical research, had to be approved by them. Before he found a loyal and capable management team for Lamborghini, he needed to keep a strict control over Lamborghini's finances.