Volkswagen Begins Bundling Assets For Sale - Which Brands Should Face The Chopping Block?

Sell Scania and Ducati.
Kill Bugatti and Seat
Bundle Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley and sell them to a deep pocket manufacturer like Hyundai, Toyota, or Ford.

I would hold Porsche. Their is volume there and synergies with Audi

Can one imagine a Non-German, owning Porsche????? I think if it were sold that would be an insanely attractive investment proposition. That is if technology were part of the deal. Matt: of those 3 you mention would you not agree that Hyundai would be the most likely? Toyota & BMW are teaming and Ford - been there done that?

@W124E329

I can imagine Porsche being owned by non-Germans. How is that ANY different that Mercedes or Fiat owning a quintessentially American company or Geely owning Volvo.

Hyundai could radically change itself through acquisition. When FCA belches out Ram and Jeep for money before retreating to Italy, Hyundai could gain market share with products they currently do not cover. The same would be true if they bought Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini.

There is no way the Germans would allow Porsche to be owned by anyone else. I imagine they'd shop it to BMW or MB first if they "had" to sell it... but it would be the last one to go.

Porsche is the crown jewel. VAG is not going to sell it. More likely Lamborghini and Bentley on the high end and Seat on the lower end. VAG will probably end up with Porsche, Audi on the high end and VW and Skoda on the low end. The rest will probably go in the long term. There is talk of reintroducing Skoda back in the US. that might be a good move as VAG has really hurt it's reputation in the US.

Both Lambo and Bentley make money. Ducati I'm not sure.

SEAT will get axed like Oldsmobile did at GM. SEAT is not a valuable brand for anyone to acquire.

I don't see VW selling any of its brands.

Geeley (Volvo owner) should buy Bentley, Lambo, and Bugatti (maybe not Bugatti which should just be shut down?).

Trouble is, all the brands are so interrelated with tightly integrated platforms and powertrains, that none of them, standalone, probably make any money.

Bentley exists because of VW (Phaeton) and VW 3.6L W6 (doubled for Bentley/Audi W12).

Veyron exists because of VW engine (two Passat W8's = Veyron W16) and Audi electronics.

Then there is the obvious badge-engineering - Tiguan/Q5/Macan; Toureg/Cayenne/Q7/Bentayga; Phaeton/A8/Continental/Panamera(next gen); Golf/TT/A3/Q3, etc etc.

If VW starts selling off brands, I'm not sure what it gets them. Its a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at this point.

Buying is many times easier than selling. The ones that can fetch a good price VW will want/need to keep. The ones that VW is willing to sell probably won't fetch a good price. The dilemma that all CEOs have to deal with, and some don't work out too well.

The local and Federal German governments and unions will not approve the sale of any brands with a large percentage of the workers residing in Germany. Thus Scania, Seat, Skoda, Ducati and Bugatti go first and Bentley and Lambo only if necessary.

And that should be a warning to anyone who thinking giving the Gestapo--oops I mean union--more power is a good idea.

The irony is that if the union prevents a sale to non-German entities, sooner or later they will have to anyway.

Porsche splits off and buys their "freedom"

Ducati is gone if you can find a buyer

No one wants Lamborghini

Sell Skoda

In reality:

nothing will be cut, except for jobs to cover the losses in revenue
SEAT or Skoda maybe merged out of existence