B2 Reading: Ferrari vs Lamborghini, Pride, Revenge and Supercars
Read the article about Ferrari and Lamborghini and fill in the gaps.
Word Bank
Tap a word, then tap a gap. On a computer you can also drag it.
acquired
cautious
dismissed
approaches
reputation
conservative
stunned
scrapped
loyalty
arrogance
determined
challenge
Some business rivalries begin with market research. This one, if the famous story is true, began with a broken clutch and a lot of pride.
By the early 1960s, Ferruccio Lamborghini had made a fortune building tractors and owned several Ferraris. Frustrated that the clutch on his car kept failing, he is said to have gone to Enzo Ferrari with ideas for improving it. Ferrari, who had a reputation for , reportedly him, telling him to stick to tractors. Whether or not it happened exactly like that, Lamborghini was to build a better grand touring car himself.
In 1963, he founded Automobili Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese, less than an hour's drive from Ferrari's headquarters in Maranello. Choosing a charging bull to Ferrari's prancing horse, he quickly made his mark. The Miura, unveiled in 1966, put the engine behind the driver like a racing car and is widely considered the world's first supercar. It the industry and made Ferrari look .
The two brands followed very different strategies. Ferrari built its on motor racing and has been in Formula 1 since the championship began in 1950. Lamborghini, which never competed in Formula 1 as a team, relied instead on outrageous design and dramatic road cars. Its financial history was far less stable: Ferruccio sold the company in the 1970s, it went bankrupt in 1978, and it passed through several owners before Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, it in 1998.
Today, both brands are doing well, but they are taking different to the industry's biggest challenge: the switch to electric power. Ferrari is launching its first fully electric car, the Elettrica, with deliveries due at the end of 2026, although its boss insists the electric car is "an addition, not a transition". Lamborghini, which sold a record 10,747 cars in 2025, has been more . It plans for its first fully electric model, turning it into a plug-in hybrid, after deciding that its customers were not yet ready to give up the roar of an engine.
More than sixty years on, the rivalry is no longer personal. But for car fans everywhere, choosing between the horse and the bull is still a matter of .
By the early 1960s, Ferruccio Lamborghini had made a fortune building tractors and owned several Ferraris. Frustrated that the clutch on his car kept failing, he is said to have gone to Enzo Ferrari with ideas for improving it. Ferrari, who had a reputation for , reportedly him, telling him to stick to tractors. Whether or not it happened exactly like that, Lamborghini was to build a better grand touring car himself.
In 1963, he founded Automobili Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese, less than an hour's drive from Ferrari's headquarters in Maranello. Choosing a charging bull to Ferrari's prancing horse, he quickly made his mark. The Miura, unveiled in 1966, put the engine behind the driver like a racing car and is widely considered the world's first supercar. It the industry and made Ferrari look .
The two brands followed very different strategies. Ferrari built its on motor racing and has been in Formula 1 since the championship began in 1950. Lamborghini, which never competed in Formula 1 as a team, relied instead on outrageous design and dramatic road cars. Its financial history was far less stable: Ferruccio sold the company in the 1970s, it went bankrupt in 1978, and it passed through several owners before Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, it in 1998.
Today, both brands are doing well, but they are taking different to the industry's biggest challenge: the switch to electric power. Ferrari is launching its first fully electric car, the Elettrica, with deliveries due at the end of 2026, although its boss insists the electric car is "an addition, not a transition". Lamborghini, which sold a record 10,747 cars in 2025, has been more . It plans for its first fully electric model, turning it into a plug-in hybrid, after deciding that its customers were not yet ready to give up the roar of an engine.
More than sixty years on, the rivalry is no longer personal. But for car fans everywhere, choosing between the horse and the bull is still a matter of .