Porsche to take control of Bugatti, form JV with Rimac

During the Volkswagen Group’s annual media conference recently, board chairman Herbert Diess provided a clearer picture as to what will happen to Bugatti. As it turns out, the French brand won’t be sold outright, but will be included in deal involving Porsche and Rimac, Autocar reports.

As a brief recap, the Volkswagen Group owns several brands, including Bugatti, Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen Passenger Cars, just to name a few. Last year, the company placed Bugatti, Ducati and Lamborghini under review, but later announced that all but Bugatti would remain part of the Volkswagen Group.

It was previously reported that Bugatti will be handed over to Rimac via Porsche, with the latter acquiring a greater share in the Croatian carmaker. That has since happened, with Porsche recently agreeing to further increase its stake in Rimac from 15.5% in 2019 to 24%. However, Diess’ latest comments indicate Bugatti will remain (somewhat) in the Volkswagen Group, but with greater involvement from Rimac.

“Transferring [Bugatti] to Rimac isn’t true. Porsche is currently preparing a partnership that’s going to be under discussion with Rimac, and Porsche will be taking care of that,” said Diess. “The whole thing isn’t yet finalised. What we want to do is transition responsibility of Bugatti to Porsche, and Porsche in all probability will establish a joint venture with Rimac, with a minority share of Porsche,” he added.

Diess explained that the decision to move responsibility for Bugatti within the Volkswagen Group to Porsche is because “we believe that Bugatti will get an environment that’s stronger than being here in Wolfsburg in the volume segment.” “We have more synergies [between Bugatti and Porsche] over there, such as carbon-fibre bodies and high-performance batteries,” he noted. It isn’t clear if a potential Bugatti joint venture would see Porsche and Rimac take an equal share.

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