Ducati 'Not for Sale', Says Audi Boss

Rupert Stadler, CEO, Audi AG, has confirmed that the revered Italian motorcycle brand will stay with the Volkswagen Group despite reports saying that there might be an outside chance that it may be sold off. Back in March this year, the Audi CEO had said that Lamborghini and Ducati belong to Ducati and together, they have an excellent future. In fact, in the press release that outlined VW's future strategies, there was absolutely no mention of the group selling off any of its brands as was earlier reported.

(Rupert Stadler, CEO, Audi AG, confirmed that Ducati will remain with the VW Group)

Ducati, as a brand, had 2015 as its best year as far as sales were concerned. It sold 54,800 motorcycles worldwide, which was 9,683 units more than what it sold in 2014, showing a growth of 22 per cent. The Ducati Scrambler alone sold 16,000 units across the world, making it a big success. Ever since Ducati was taken over by Audi, it has had a good run. And VW stood firm in its decision to not sell off the brand in the aftermath of the Dieselgate scandal.

A Bloomberg report said that the VW Group was conducting a review of its brands and might look at re-structuring in order to raise funds to pay off fines and allocate some of it for repairing the 11 million cars that were fitted with the emissions cheat device.

Rather than explaining what VW will be doing to rectify the 'Dieselgate' situation, the group said that it's new focus will be on electric and autonomous vehicles as it looks to introduce 30 new EVs by 2025, which is not a long way off. The Group has termed this new initiative as 'Strategy-2025'. The Volkswagen Group has 12 brands under its umbrella which comprise of one 2-wheeler and several 4-wheeler manufacturers apart from CV manufacturers and ship components as well.

(Source: Bloomberg, Asphaltandrubber.com)