Volkswagen looking at carving out Lamborghini and Ducati

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen is looking into potentially carving out its Lamborghini supercar and Ducati motorbike brands, it said on Monday, as the German automaker seeks to streamline its operations and focus on mass-producting electric cars.

“We are working on our Italian legal structure,” Chief Executive Herbert Diess said, referring to Lamborghini, Ducati and design studio Italdesign, while adding that no decisions had been made.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last month that Volkswagen was drawing up plans for a potential spin-off or initial public offering of the brands.

Diess was speaking after Volkswagen announced on Friday it would increase its planned investment in digital and electric vehicle technologies to 73 billion euros ($86 billion) over the next five years.

The CEO said on Monday that Volkswagen would miss its CO2 compliance target this year by “a gram or so”.

He saw business recovering next year, with the company planning for a return to pre-COVID crisis levels in 2022, he added.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor, editing by Mark Potter)