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Volkswagen Group may be eyeing sale of Lamborghini and Bugatti brands – report

As Volkswagen Group transitions towards an electric car future, executives at the car company may be considering selling Lamborghini and Bugatti, according to a report from news outlet Reuters.


The unnamed sources say the company is reviewing how some of its niche brands – which also includes Ducati motorcycles – can be restructured, realigned, or even sold off, as the business moves towards a future with electrified powertrains.

The report comes only weeks after rumours surfaced of Volkswagen Group entering talks to offload Bugatti to Croatian electric supercar maker Rimac.

In October 2019, news outlet Bloomberg reported Volkswagen Group was considering selling Lamborghini, or spinning off the supercar brand into its own entity. Numerous reports of the company selling one or more of its marques have emerged as early as 2016.

While Europe's ever-tightening emissions laws are making the viability of large-capacity engines more difficult and expensive to develop, Lamborghini and Bugatti are also facing an internal threat as Volkswagen Group looks at ways to more than double its stock market value.

 

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Despite selling the most amount of cars in the world last year, the company's valuation sits behind Tesla and Toyota.

Volkswagen Group bosses have signalled their intention to increase the company's valuation from its current market capitalisation of AU$120 billion to roughly AU$330 billion.

Currently, money earned from its passenger car divisions are said to be funding research and development at Bugatti and Lamborghini, but rarely do the results benefit the group's more common products.

This means development of petrol-powered supercars and hypercars are drawing funds away from hybrid and electric powertrain projects – along with autonomous driving technology – which can then be amortised across Volkswagen Group brands.

Volkswagen Group currently owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Skoda, Spanish brand Seat, MAN and Scania trucks, as well as the aforementioned Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Ducati.

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Ben Zachariah

Ben Zachariah is an experienced writer and motoring journalist from Melbourne, having worked in the automotive industry for more than two decades. Ben began writing professionally more than 15 years ago and was previously an interstate truck driver. He completed his MBA in Finance in early 2021 and is considered an expert on classic car investment.

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