Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.,commonly referred to as Lamborghini (pronounced [lamˈborɡini]), is an Italian automaker based in the small township of Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company was founded in 1963 by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini.

The story of the automaker begins with Ferruccio Lamborghini, the child of grape farmers from the comune of Renazzo di Cento, Province of Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Lamborghini was drawn to farming machinery rather than the farming lifestyle itself, and studied at the Fratelli Taddia technical institute near Bologna. After returning from World War II, Lamborghini opened a garage in Pieve di Cento. Thanks to his mechanical abilities, he was able to enter the business of building tractors from spare parts and leftover military vehicles.

In 1948, Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A., and by the mid-1950s, his factory was producing 1000 tractors per year.

Lamborghini's increasing wealth allowed him to cultivate an interest in cars that were a far cry from the tiny Fiat Topolinos he had tinkered with in his garage in his spare time. He owned Alfa Romeos and Lancias during the early 1950s, and at one point, had enough cars to use a different one every day of the week, adding a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, a Jaguar E-Type coupé, and two Maserati 3500GTs. In 1958, Lamborghini traveled to Maranello to buy a Ferrari 250GT, a two-seat coupé with a body designed by coachbuilder Pininfarina. He went on to own several more over the years, including a Scaglietti-designed 250 SWB Berlinetta and a 250GT 2+2 four-seater.

Lamborghini thought Ferrari's cars were good, but too noisy and rough to be proper road cars, labeling them as repurposed track cars with poorly-built interiors. Most annoyingly, Lamborghini found that Ferrari's cars were equipped with inferior clutches, and he was continuously forced to return to Maranello for clutch rebuilds. Ferrari technicians would take the car away for several hours to make the repairs, not allowing the curious Lamborghini to view the work; he had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Ferrari's aftersales service, which he perceived to be substandard. Frustrated with the recurring nature of the problems, during one particularly long wait, he took the matter up with the company's founder, "Il Commendatore", Enzo Ferrari.

What happened next has become the stuff of legend: according to a 1991 Thoroughbred & Classic Cars magazine interview with Lamborghini, he complained to Enzo in "a bit of an argument", telling him that his cars were rubbish; the notoriously pride-filled Modenan was furious, telling the manufacturing tycoon, "Lamborghini, you may be able to drive a tractor, but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly." Enzo Ferrari's snubbing of Lamborghini had profound consequences. Lamborghini later said that it was at that point that he got the idea that if Enzo Ferrari, or anyone else, could not build him a perfect car, he might be able to simply make such a car himself.

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