Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Billion offer to Volkswagen
Investors want to buy Lamborghini
Lamborghini is one of the most prestigious sports car brands – and owned by the Volkswagen Group. A group of investors would like to change that. But the reaction at Audi and VW is cool.
The Swiss Quantum Group wants to take over the Audi subsidiary Lamborghini together with the British investment company Centricus and is offering 7.5 billion euros for this. According to information from the “Automobilwoche”, a corresponding “Letter of Intent” is to be handed over on Wednesday and is available to the industry and business newspaper. Quantum boss Rea Stark Rajcic founded the new sports car brand Piech Automotive two years ago with Anton Piech, the son of the former VW patriarch Ferdinand Piech. According to the newspaper, however, the offer has met with little interest at VW and Audi.
Quantum is offering Lamborghini employees a five-year employment guarantee and wants to take over the Italian carmaker’s VW management team. After buying the brand, they want to enter into a strategic partnership with Volkswagen. The aim is to make Lamborghini a figurehead for clean drives. Quantum wants to found an Advanced Automotive Innovation Center in Lower Saxony, the home of VW, in which, among other things, batteries and battery cells will be developed and produced. The new company will not only work for Quantum.
In contrast to what is usually the case with such declarations of intent, the letter is only signed by Quantum and not by both parties. “Lamborghini is not for sale,” said an Audi spokesman for “Automobilwoche”. “There was no discussion about it.” CEO Herbert Diess actually flirted with a separation from the brand last year. But in December the board of directors called off the plans. Lamborghini will remain part of the group, the committee decided. Above all, the then head of the works council, Bernd Osterloh, had opposed a separation. The topic is completely off the table, confirmed Audi boss Markus Duesmann in mid-April to the Automobilwoche. Partial sales are also not up for discussion.
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