Volkswagen gauges interest in Ducati brand as a prelude to possible sale

Volkswagen is hosting initial talks with potential bidders for its Ducati brand to gauge potential interest in the motorcycle maker ahead of a November planning round, three people knowledgeable with the matter informed Reuters.

During the five-year planning round, the company will review the future of its Ducati brand together with its super sports car brands Lamborghini and Bugatti, sources said.

Volkswagen is thinking about the future of Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Ducati as part of a broader quest for more economies of scale as it moves to mass production of electric cars and as the company attempts to more than double its value to 200 billion euros ($236 billion).

The review could lead to technology partnerships for the high-performance sports car and superbike brands, restructuring, and or listing or sale, the sources said.

Whether Volkswagen agrees to kick off an official sales process at that meeting is still not certain, but for a sale to be possible in early 2021, investors and bankers need to gauge price expectations and possible strategic fit, a second person knowledgeable with the discussions said.

Volkswagen tried to sell Ducati in 2017, when peer Bajaj Auto in a tie-up with KTM, and also Polaris and private equity groups Bain, PAI, and Investindustrial expressed interest in purchasing the Italian motorbike brand.