With its expansion dreams fading fast in the rear-view, Volkswagen needs to shrink and streamline its operations in a hurry, meaning unwanted brands could soon be priced to sell in its driveway.
According to Bloomberg, the automaker plans to conduct a wide-ranging strategy and portfolio review, with details of the strategy expected to go public tomorrow. An asset sale could be in the works, and insiders are already hinting at which brands will be dropped.
Before its name became synonymous with clouds of dirty air, VW went on a buying spree, fleshing out its portfolio with 12 brands and a ship engine business.
Sources told Bloomberg that Italian motorcycle company Ducati could be one of the assets VW plans to ditch. German multinational MAN Diesel & Turbo — a marine engine producer — could also be on the chopping block, along with its propulsion technology arm, MAN Renk. Swedish commercial truck maker Scania is another candidate.
VW’s asset yard sale would take time to put together, but it’s not the only cost-saving measure the automaker has up its sleeve. The automaker plans to merge the component units of all of its brands into a single unit, with a single management group. The component units, which also provide parts to third-party buyers, is a massive operation employing 70,000 people worldwide.
The company’s powerful unions will fight any reduction in workforce, but the $18.2 billion cost of the diesel scandal and falling sales at its namesake brand means something has to give.
Cardboard sign says yard sale
Real estate sign says sold
Family picnic table, holds all that it can hold
On the grass and on the sidewalk
Well, there must be half the town
Ain’t it funny how a broken home
Can bring the prices down?
Sammy Kershaw – Yard Sale
Sheesh – that’s the saddest thing I’ve seen all day.
I had to google the name, but could tell it was from either a blues song or a country song.
Country song. Old Sammy did run for Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana back in 2010 and he was married to Lorrie Morgan (google image search for her) so life couldn’t have been all bad. ;-)
Lorrie Morgan, aka Loretta Lynn
Aka MILF.
Yeah, and Troy Aikman cast her off?
Lorrie’s been married 6 times…
Roller-coasters can be fun.
I entered Lorrie Morgan into google and the first thing that pops up is “Lorrie Morgan Husbands”.
She’s seen more d1ck than a subway station urinal.
There’s only 2 things that interest me… work, and those trappings of aristocracy that I find worthwhile. The very things they’re forced to sell when the money runs out. And it always runs out. And then all they’re left with is their lovely manners.
Someones been watching too much Downton Abbey.
Ha, that’s a quote from Kevin Spacey’s character in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Maggie Smith cracks me up though. And everybody’s too mean to Edith.
Been a long time since I have seen that film, it was an excellent one as I recall.
That movie was Eastwood’s directorial debut, as well. I think it’s excellent and quite nuanced. Just takes all damn afternoon to watch since it’s so long.
RE: Downton
I watched all those via streaming on the British schedule, so I was several months ahead of those who saw it via PBS. Such a well done show.
Re: Downton Abbey – just got to the 4th season. Wife got me hooked but she likes having me their to put things in historical context when/if necessary.
I always liked “shes the queen of my double wide trailer”
With the polyester curtains and the redwood deck.
Even with listening to Pandora, Sirius XM – Prime Country, and my favorites iHeartRadio – Haunted Heart is the song of his I don’t hear enough (actually at all.)
Well my haunted heart can’t rest in peace
It’s buried with her memory
And it’s a living hell here after dark
All alone with a haunted heart.
Still making a profit and expanding. The demise of VW Corporation on this site gets tiring. Too bad you are too US centric
“Disposals are particularly sensitive at Volkswagen, as both its powerful unions and second-largest shareholder, the German state of Lower Saxony, don’t like to see the company get smaller.”
Pretty well sums it up
I’ll give you a nickle for SEAT rights.
This wording kind of cracks me up. It reminds me of the time GM had a “garage sale” and auctioned off a bunch of historic and concept cars.
They really were becoming 1980s General Motors in their empirical search for diseconomies of scale. You want your business to have the biggest profits, not the biggest revenues.
They were actually doing both
The “800,000 sales a year in the U.S. by 2018” thing becomes more laughable by the day. They’d have never gotten there even without the diesel scandal.
They should sell off Porsche.
First, there’s got to be an investment group of automotive poseurs who’d be happy to plunk down 18Big to own that name (assuming Ferrari isn’t available on that day).
Second, maybe getting away from the VW badge engineering means that Porsche could once again be Porsche and focus on turning out sport cars that demand driver involvement.
Because the best way to save a company is to sell off the most profitable division, as everyone knows.
And besides that, Piech and co spend about 30 years trying to wrestle back control of the brand with the Porsche name for the “family business”. They’d sooner go down with the ship that pawn it.
Speaking of which isn’t VW supposed to release the details of its buyback plan in the next week?
Oh, here we are again, back to the Volkswagen Battersea Power Station.
Can you maybe photoshop in the big pig balloon from the Pink Floyd Animals album?
It is obvious, they should sell VW and keep the rest.
Actually that would make sense. VW itself is not that profitable but everything else is
Tata or Geeley might be interested in buying the VW brand.