Volkswagen needs money and getting rid of its Italian jewels is already on the table

Ducati, for sale. Reason, here.

Lamborghini, for sale. Reason, here.

Those are the posters that could hang on the door of the Volkswagen group headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. At least that’s what they claim Financial Timeswhere they claim that investment banks are pressuring the automobile conglomerate to get rid of two of its most glittering assets.

The company announced a few days ago that plans to lay off 100,000 workers. The notice is the continuation of another threatthis time from December 2024. At that time, the company already claimed to be immersed in a huge restructuring process because, according to its directors, It was “essential to survive”. The result, as we say, was a first threat: 35,000 layoffs.

That promotion of incentivized sick leave and layoffs (which later amounted to 50,000 employees) to avoid factory closures is forgotten. At least that’s what I anticipated Manager Magazine just a few days ago. And the fact is that the accounts, they say, do not add up and it will be necessary to raise the level of layoffs to 100,000 employees.

In the conversations that revolve around that conversation, another idea has come up: sell. Sell ​​companies that are a flagship of quality and good work within the Volkswagen Group. They explain in Financial Times and collect other German media such as Auto Motor und Sport that investment banks are already putting pressure on Volkswagen’s management to slim down its portfolio.

And those indicated are clear: Ducati and Lamborghini.

Now that we can

To understand why Lamborghini and Ducati would be in the spotlight, the British economic media and the German motor media point to one name: Everllence.

Everllence is a company specialized in the production of large engines for very specific sectors such as maritime or energy production. A few days ago the sale of 51% of the company was confirmed in an agreement that was estimated at 7.4 billion euros. A maneuver that, apparently, has been received with very good words by the rest of the Volkswagen Group investors.

And the idea, therefore, is to continue. Although they are two of the great jewels of the automobile conglomerate, Ducati and Lamborghini are also attractive in the eyes of a potential buyer. The main incentive for their purchase is that these are companies that obtain enormous economic performance from their products, which establishes part of the future success for whoever is willing to buy the company and, above all, increases the sales value that the German group can obtain.

The possible sale of Ducati, in fact, It was already put on the table in 2017 but for now he is still part of the company. In this case, the colleagues explain Motorpassion Motorcycle It would be a sale of the company. In the case of Lamborghini, an IPO would be contemplated.

The movement, evidently, would have the intention of raising funds to strengthen the restructuring that the company has advanced. A few weeks ago, the Volkswagen Group already divested itself of Bugatti, a company whose cars require a very high leverage of money since they are vehicles produced by hand in a large part of their process.

The company still had a 45% stake in Bugatti through Porsche, after in 2021 it already sold the remaining 55% to the Rimac Group, owners of the car company. super luxury electric cars. In that sale the amount of the operation was not made public but our colleagues from Motorpassion They stated that the figure reached was estimated at around 500 million euros.

That investment banks target Ducati and Lamborghini, as we say, is no coincidence. Stellantis, for example, has a problem with Maserati since it is having a very difficult time relaunching the brand but, above all, it is a firm with very little projection in case someone wants to buy it, as explained in the podcast Power Art.

And for Volkswagen, getting rid of both companies totally or partially would mean an immediate injection of capital. The question is whether it is a good idea in the long term. In the case of Lamborghini, some models share research and development with Audi such as the Urus and the Q8 or the most recent Audi Nuvolaria spectacular supercar that It exists only because the Lamborghini Temerario already existed.

That is to say, Lamborghini is intricate within the rest of the Volkswagen group, it is not like Bugatti which in many cases walked a path parallel to that of the rest of the company. For the Germans, the Italian firm is more than just very high profit margins, it is a test bed and a breath of fresh air for stagnant companies like Audi.

Photo | Ducati and Audi

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