Lamborghini Getting Into the Sports Equipment Business, Starts With Padel Racquets

But backing such sports financially is one thing, and actually contributing to them is an entirely different one. A path not many have followed over the years, but one that none other than Lamborghini seems more than willing to take.

I'm not sure how many of you know what a padel racquet is. It's a tool used in a sport called padel, something that in my view is kind of the rich cousin of conventional tennis. It uses the same rules and the same scoring system, but the way it is played, from rules to tools, is different. For instance, a ball can be played even after it strikes the walls that surround the court, if you can believe that.

The sport originated somewhere in Mexico in the late 1960s and spread like wildfire to the point that it is now an industry worth about $2 billion per year. And with that bit of info, Lamborghini's involvement kind of becomes understandable.

The Italian carmaker announced this week that it too will make padel racquets to be used by players around the world. Because it truly lacks the expertise in this industry, it partnered with one of the oldest specialists (founded in 1875) in the field of tennis, badminton, and padel gear: Babolat.

The joint product developed by the two companies will be called BL001, and it will not only benefit from Lambo's expertise in carbon fiber manufacturing, but it will effectively be produced in the same Sant'Agata Bolognese factory that makes the Raging Bull cars and SUVs.

Design-wise the thing not all that different from other padel racquets because there are only so many things one can change when it comes to that. But we are told its frame was inspired by the design of the super sports cars' chassis.

Lamborghini says the peripheral monocoque frame has been designed to be extremely rigid (a tell-tale trait of these racquets) as to optimize the deformation of the striking zone. It extends into the handle, allowing the player's hand to come in direct contact with it, which in turn impacts the ball's speed and power.

Babolat and Lamborghini will only make 50 units of the BL001, but pricing for the range has not been announced. The racquets will be available in five Lamborghini colors, namely Giallo Auge, Verde Viper, Arancio Livrea, Viola Pasifae, Verde Gea.

The collab between the two companies will continue in the coming years with two more racquets, already dubbed BL002 and BL003. These ones, however, will be made by Babolat in Spain.