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VW Group plan puts Porsche in charge of a ‘super-premium’ division

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An

Automobile

report looks into what’s happening on the organizational and technical sides of the

Volkswagen

Group, and what those changes could mean for the premium brands. The wide-angle view is that

Porsche

appears to have been anointed to “coordinate the future activities” at

Audi

,

Bentley

,

Bugatti

and

Lamborghini

. In this case,

Audi

would cede

Lamborghini

guardianship to Stuttgart, and

Ducati

— via a new concern called

Ducati

Enterprises — would become the Italian shepherd for

VW’s

other Italian investments. Executives target Jan. 1, 2019 to complete the reshuffle.

VW wants to save a boodle by tying up four of its five top-tier brands, and putting the one with the highest ROI in charge.

Porsche

, within its own house, wants to reduce expenditures by $2.3 billion per year over for four years, the savings already earmarked for improving internal processes like R&D and production. Having Porsche share those gains as well as lead development of platforms, components and future-tech strategies for the sister

sports car

brands could benefit everyone.

In the near-term, the brands have their own plans:

Bugatti

CEO Stephan Winkelmann is said to want a

Chiron Superleggera

, a roofless and “completely reskinned” Chiron Aperta, and a track-only Chiron

SS

. The Superleggera could take the

Chiron Sport

‘s and

Divo

‘s Jenny Craig routines even further. The Aperta seems a natural successor to the

Veyron Grand Sport

, a natural evolution of the

recently introduced Sky View roof

, and a reskin might include numerous Divo cues. It’s also said Bugatti’s considering “an all-electric high-end model” in conjunction with Porsche,

Rimac

, and

Dallara

, but name one

supercar

or hypercar manufacturer that isn’t considering a lightning-fast

EV

.

Lamborghini, deep into work on follow-ups for the

Huracán

and

Aventador

, might get a bit of a bump with the new plan. The carbon “monofuselage” for the next V12 flagship is said to be too far developed and too complex to scrap. It puts two electric motors on the front axle, batteries in the middle, and a naturally aspirated V12 with around 770 horsepower plus another e-motor with 402 horsepower in back.

The Huracán is said to get a version of the same carbon architecture at the moment, but the corporate reorganization might press pause on it. Automobile says options include continuing the Huracán/

Audi R8

twinning, but that depends on

Audi saying “Ja” to a third-gen R8

with Lamborghini bones. Beyond that, the Huracán could move to the Mimo II platform created by Porsche for the

in-limbo-since-2011 mid-engined 960

, or the entire premium group could get a new aluminum architecture for a “modular multi-brand sports car.”

Bentley

and Audi need the most help at the moment. The UK carmaker needs to

flesh out its current financial issues

and vision for the future, and the latter relies in large part on the former. Audi remains in upheaval — the

Automobile

piece calls the brand “seriously overstaffed and worryingly over budget.” — and we can’t know when that will end. The ex-CEO who made the brand VW’s highest earner remains in jail, and we wouldn’t be surprised by any new bombshell that drops when he gets his days, or weeks, in court.

A total reintegration, if it all comes off, means monumental work. Yet

according to a Bloomberg corporate analyst

, potential rewards from going all the way with the plan might make it impossible to resist.

Bloomberg

said that if VW created a premium group and floated it on the markets, the result “could be valued at more than 120 billion euros,” when the

stock market

capitalization of the entire VW Group right now is 67 billion euros.

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