Ducati Will Not Be Sold To Royal Enfield Or Anyone: Unions

German Labour Union, IG Metall, which was representing the employees from Ducati, have said that the marquee Italian motorcycle brand will not be sold and will continue to be a part of the Volkswagen Group. It was in 2012, when Audi AG bought over Ducati and has owned Ducati ever since. While the financial details of the deal weren't disclosed but reports suggest that Audi had paid 837 million euros at the time to acquire Ducati. Thanks to the dieselgate scandal, the Volkswagen Group has had to re-think its future strategies and one of the ideas to increase the cash reserves of the group was to sell Ducati off. Audi had hired investment firm Evercore to assess the valuation of Ducati and also advise on strategic options for sale.

Also Read: Volkswagen Puts Ducati Sale On Hold Amidst Union Trade Resistance

Reports suggest that there were at least five legit buyers for Ducati which included Indian motorcycles companies of Bajaj Auto and Royal Enfield and American motorcycle company Harley-Davidson. The VW Group was supposed to get the final bids in place in October 2017 but various labour union groups have spoken against the sale of Ducati. VW could have raised close to 1.5 billion euros if they could sell Ducati to one of the five possible buyers.

Also Read: Volkswagen Considering Possible Sale Of Ducati

Various reports suggest that the total damages for Volkswagen Group including losses, payments and settlements that have arisen from the dieselgate scandal could be around 25 billion euros, over the last two years. Also, the decision to not sell Ducati will be a blow of sorts to Audi, whose efforts and negotiations over the past few months have gone down the drain. Also, this news comes days after the Volkswagen Group got a $ 3 billion charge in relation to its buyback of cars fitted with the cheat device in USA.