Ducati Might not Be Sold After All

After months of talks and offers, the majority of Volkswagen’s Board of Management is not on board with the sale of Ducati.

The conversation about selling the premium Italian superbike maker first arose in the wake of dieselgate, when VW was looking for some quick cash.

Ducati, though profitable, didn’t really add valuable engineering or technology to the wider VW family, so it was a prime candidate for sale.

Several potential buyers were reported to have been interested in Ducati, including the Benetton family and Harley Davidson, but apparently, none were willing to offer VW what it thought the company was worth.

“The employee representatives on Volkswagen’s supervisory board will neither approve a sale of Ducati, nor one of Renk or MAN Diesel & Turbo,” VW spokesman told Reuters on Saturday. “Everyone who can read the VW half-year results should know: We don’t need money and our subsidiaries are not up for grabs by bargain hunters.”

VW’s six-month financial results, recently released, show that VW is now right on track and in no desperate need of money. With that, it seems that VW is less eager, though not unwilling, to sell Ducati and transmission-maker Renk (another brand the company was looking to sell off).

[source: Reuters]

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