Volkswagen now officially has twelve brands and unofficially even more.
VW CEO Herbert Diess sees a need for action - of all things with his most popular brands.
Wolfsburg / Munich - The Wolfsburg-based car maker
Volkswagen
* is apparently preparing to separate from its super luxury brands.
"We are bringing the legal framework for our Italian subsidiaries
Ducati
,
Italdesign
and
Lamborghini
into a structure in which we can act," said
Volkswagen
boss
Herbert Diess
* on Monday in a previously neglected telephone conference with analysts.
A decision on the future of the companies has not yet been "made".
With the preparations,
VW
apparently
wants to
create the conditions to further simplify the complex group structure.
Officially, twelve brands actually belong to the Lower Saxony.
However, the Spanish subsidiary
Seat
, for example,
only
launched its own e-brand
with
Cupra
last June
.
In China, too,
VW
has
another brand at the start
with
Jetta
.
However, neither Cupra nor Jetta are part of the official
VW
dozen.
In the telephone conference with analysts, Diess and his CFO
Frank Witter
carefully
avoided giving
further details about their plans for the luxury sports car brands Lamborghini or Ducati.
This is "probably a slightly slower process," said Diess.
But it is "on our agenda."
VW: Personnel continues to fuel speculation
It was not until Monday that
Volkswagen
also reorganized the leadership at Lamborghini.
The previous Bugatti boss
Stephan Winkelmann will
then take over
the helm for the Italians on December 1st.
The previous Lamborghini boss
Stefano Domenicali will
switch to
Formula 1
and will be boss of the racing series there from 2021.
The personnel had reignited speculation about the future of Lamborghini.
In the past there had been reports of a possible separation of the
VW
luxury brands Lamborghini, Ducati and
Bugatti
.
From industry circles it is said that the VW main owners
Piech
and
Porsche
should have “certain sensitivities” with regard to the super sports cars.
However, these attitudes have since changed.
The high-horsepower vehicles evidently hardly fit into the ongoing conversion towards e-mobility.
The legendary sports car brands Lamborghini and Bugatti are particularly popular with Arab sheikhs and sports stars.
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of
the biggest Bugatti fans
.
With the Bugatti
Centodieci
, the Bugatti
Veyron
and the Bugatti
Chiron
, the
Portuguese is said to have
three cars from the Alsatian manufacture in the garage.
VW: The possible separation of Lamborghini and Bugatti is well received by analysts
The possible spin-off from Bugatti and Co. is well received by analysts.
If the super-luxury brands were no longer part of the group, "there would be less complexity, problems and stress," said
Frank Schwope
, auto analyst at
NordLB
in
Hanover,
to Merkur.de *.
The hoped-for image transfer to other group brands also "practically never happened".
However, the auto expert does not expect a quick separation from Lamborghini or Ducati.
That could "take years".
At Bugatti, on the other hand, things could possibly go much faster.
In the summer, the Croatian hypercar manufacturer
Rimac was named
as a possible buyer for Bugatti.
The deal, reported Manager-Magazin, could be completed by the end of the year.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen Digital editorial network.