What will be your Miura?

 

Innovation has been part of the human story since before the invention of the wheel. There’s nothing new about innovation. However, as someone born before the advent of the pocket calculator, it’s clear one thing has changed: the pace of change. 

 

It took more than one hundred years to get from the invention of the phonograph in 1877 to the introduction of the CD in 1982. Since then, we’ve seen wave after wave of new technology. Streaming has changed the way we buy and listen to music, and AI is influencing the way we think about it.

 

All this accelerating change creates a huge amount of competitive pressure: How do you keep pace? How do you respond to new competitors? How do you launch new ideas? How do you get in on the act? 

 

Well, at least part of the answer lies in a willingness to experiment. By way of illustration, consider the story of the first supercar...

 

In 1965 Lamborghini’s flagship car was the beautiful 350GT, a front-engine, rear wheel drive “Grand Tourer” designed to compete with the finest cars offered by Lamborghini’s great rival Ferrari. The 350GT was Lamborghini’s first production car and established the company as a serious manufacturer.

 

But in 1965 something amazing happened which would come to redefine the Lamborghini brand and bring us some of the most extreme and exotic supercars imaginable, including the Countach, Diablo, Murcielago, Gallardo, Huracan and Aventador.

 

The development team responsible for the 350GT was led by the talented engineer Gian Paolo Dallara and included two equally talented engineers Paolo Stanzani and Bob Wallace.

 

Although primarily responsible for Lamborghini’s one and only flagship product, the 350GT, Dallara, Stanzani and Wallace also had an idea for another, truly innovative vehicle: a mid-engine, road-going, race-bred car. This idea was entirely at odds with the direction Ferruccio Lamborghini had set for his company.

 

Unable to convince Lamborghini this was a good idea or that it wouldn’t be too expensive or too much of a distraction from the company’s main focus, they did what mavericks always do: they did it anyway. They worked on the design in their own time, in the evenings and at night, eventually persuading Ferruccio to give them a free hand to develop the car as a marketing exercise.

 

By the time of the 1965 Turin motor show they had a rolling chassis (but no body) which was sufficient to secure some initial orders. Marcello Gandini at Bertone was then commissioned to design the body, which he did to stunning effect. This was ready just in time for the 1966 Geneva motor show (although the engine had to be left out as it wouldn’t fit under the clam shell).

 

The favourable reaction in Geneva persuaded Lamborghini to put the car into production and thus was born the famous Lamborghini Miura, the fastest production car of its time and the prototype for every subsequent Lamborghini extravaganza.

 

What I love about this story is how clearly it illustrates the role experimentation plays in bringing new ideas to market. This was not a carefully considered and evaluated idea; it was not executed to a detailed plan. It was trial and error all the way. At the Turin motor show the car had no body; at the Geneva show it had no engine. It was still really only a prototype when it went into production. But it went on to define the company.

 

The second thing it illustrates is the role of the mavericks; in this case the three talented engineers who gave up their own time and worked outside their normal constraints to bring their idea to life. I see this time and again: talented people ignoring or working around the rules; finding a way to try out their ideas, quickly and cheaply.

 

So, as you contemplate the rapidly shifting competitive landscape, ask yourself three questions:

• Who are my mavericks?
• Where will they experiment?
• What will be my Miura?