According to a famous story, Lamborghini exists because Enzo Ferrari insulted a tractor maker. This lesson tells the story of one of the great rivalries in the car world, from the 1960s to today’s race to go electric, and gets students talking about pride, competition and brand loyalty. This B2 version looks at how a personal insult turned into a business rivalry, and how the two brands are handling the switch to electric cars.
Level: B2 · Time: 45 to 90 minutes. Pick the activities that suit your class. They work in almost any order.
Lesson Activities
- Warmer: What Car Is This? – Reveal the picture tile by tile. What is it? Which country is it from? How old is it? (It’s a Lamborghini Countach, the famous 1970s and 80s poster car.)
- Prediction: Ferrari or Lamborghini? – Students guess which company each of 10 facts is about (horse or bull logo, Formula 1, tractor maker, Volkswagen…), then check after reading.
- Vocabulary: Pre-teach the Key Words – Match 10 words from the article to their meanings before reading (arrogance, dismiss, determined, stun, conservative, acquire, cautious, scrap…).
- Reading: Ferrari vs Lamborghini, Pride, Revenge and Supercars – An article with 12 gaps. Choose without a word bank or with a word bank for extra support.
- Discussion: Pride, Rivalry and the Future of Supercars – 12 discussion questions on motivation, complaints, electric supercars, foreign ownership and brand loyalty.
- Speaking: Ranking – How do you beat a rival? Students rank nine business strategies, from making a better product to buying the competitor, then compare with a partner.
Teacher Tips
- For a shorter lesson, use the warmer, the reading and the discussion cards.
- Language focus: look at how the article reports a story that may not be true (according to, is said to have, reportedly, whether or not it happened). Students use these phrases to tell a legend or rumour they know.
- Business English classes: discuss the ranking task in terms of the students’ own industry. How do they compete with their main rival?
- Follow-up: students present another famous rivalry, or design their own supercar brand with a name, logo and slogan.
Teaching a lower-level group? Try the B1 version of this lesson.