Lamborghini, Ducati to remain part of VW Group

A meeting of the Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board saw the realignment of key personnel as part of its Together 2025+ strategy for greater focus on electrification, and in the company’s statement was confirmation that Lamborghini and Ducati will remain a part of the Volkswagen Group.

Additionally, Bentley will come under the management responsibility of Audi from March 1, 2021 as part of the wider group’s “electrification strategy for the two premium brands,” the group said in its statement. In May last year, a rumoured shake-up of the Volkswagen Group was said to eventually place Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Italdesign, and Ducati on sale by 2030.

The statement leaves Bugatti unmentioned for its place in the Volkswagen Group, and despite being reported to be set for takeover by Rimac via Porsche, in exchange for latter to take a greater share in the Croatian electric hypercar maker, Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann – also recently appointed head of Lamborghini – just recently said that the internal combustion engine should be maintained for as long as possible.

Where does the group-wide reorientation leave Bugatti?

Holding on to internal combustion, and natural aspiration in Lamborghini’s case, does not preclude hybrid assistance, and the Sant’Agata Bolognese supercar maker’s chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani told Car and Driver that the Aventador’s successor will be a hybrid, not least to help the brand comply with upcoming legislation as well as fit in with the wider VW Group’s electromobility strategy.

Volkswagen Group chairman Herbert Diess remains in position, and he and his management team have the supervisory board’s full support for the implementation of the Together 2025+ strategy, the company said.

In addition to the group-wide realignment involving product and personnel, the Volkswagen Group aims to reduce its fixed costs by 5% by 2023 whilst taking into account its existing programmes, while material costs are to be reduced by 7% in the next two years, it said in its statement.

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