International Dealer News IDN 145 October/November 2018 | Page 21

news ROOM
CEO says VW is
open to Ducati
alliance or merger
The 10th Ducati World Week welcomed a record 91,596 attendees at the
Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”
Reuters Frankfurt has reported
that “motorbike brand Ducati
could be merged with a rival or
enter an alliance given a lack of
synergy potential with the
passenger car businesses at
VW”, according to parent
company Volkswagen’s Chief
Executive Herbert Diess in an
interview with German daily
newspaper Handelsblatt.
Commenting on Diess’ remarks,
Reuters went on to say that
“Volkswagen has struggled to
find a long-term solution for the
motorbike brand amid internal
power struggles, with a 1.5
billion euro ($1.8 billion)
auction that stalled last year
amid resistance from German
trade unions”.
“I can imagine a combination or
a partnership with other
brands,” continued Diess.
“Ducati as a motorbike icon
business [on its own] within the
Volkswagen Group is not
sufficient.” Diess took over as
chief executive at Volkswagen
in April 2018. Volkswagen
parent company VAG bought
Ducati in 2012 for around 800m
euro, plus taking on some 165m
euro of liabilities.
At the time it was thought that
the acquisition was a “vanity
project” by then VAG chairman
Ferdinand Piech, who had
regretted not buying Ducati
when the Italian government
had put it up for sale in 1984.
Piech, 78, was forced to resign
from the business he effectively
led for 20 years in 2015 in the
wake of the diesel emissions
software tampering scandal. A
self-proclaimed 'Ducatista', he is
the grandson of Ferdinand
Porsche, the designer of the
original Nazi era Volkswagen
Beetle.
The attempt to divest itself of
Ducati in 2017 ended in
frustration despite advisor
Evercore having successfully
garnered bids that met VAG’s
1.5bn euro valuation. While
reports that Harley-Davidson
was bidding turned out to be
inaccurate, motorcycle industry
and investor led bids were
received. At various stages
interested parties had included
the Italian Benetton family and
India’s giant Bajaj Auto (a major
stake holder in KTM/Husqvarna
who is currently engaged in a
non-equity project to bring
middleweight Triumph models
to market, Bajaj were known to
be sat on a $1 bn cash reserve
at the time).
The powerful German unions
account for half of the seats on
VAG’s advisory board and were
united in opposition to a sale
process that is reputed to have
even seen Royal Enfield owner
Eicher Motors increasing their
initial par bid of 1.5bn euro to
some 2bn.
INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018
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