VW rejects $12 billion offer for Lamborghini

A newly formed consortium of British-based investors has tabled an offer to Volkswagen to purchase Lamborghini for €7.5 billion (AU$12billion), according to reports from Europe.

Quantum Group AG is headed up by Piech Automotive co-founder, Rea Stark, whose colleagues include Anton Piech, son of the long-time VW and Porsche boss Ferdinand Piech, as well as former VW Group CEO, Matthias Muller.

It is understood the offer is non-binding and was tabled to the VW Group earlier this month, covering the entire purchase of Lamborghini from its road-car operations to the racing arm of the Italian brand.

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Lamborghini's V12 Aventador is its flagship model, reaching its tenth birthday this year

VW was understood to have been preparing to list Lamborghini and Ducati publicly towards the end of last year but decided to keep both marques as a part of its 12-brand strong family.

The proposal from Quantum comes with an understanding of partnership between it and the VW Group (through Audi) running a five-year supply deal and retaining current staff, before eventually moving Lamborghini towards a renewable-energy based platform.

It would be nearly impossible for Lamborghini to continue on with its current model line-up given its heavy reliance on using parts from the wider VW group, essentially calling for a redesign of the Urus, Huracan and Aventador if the automaker was moved away from Audi ownership.

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Lamborghini's Urus is based on the same MLB Evo platform as the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7

VW has reiterated it will not put Lamborghini up for sale, but both VW Group Chairman Herbert Diess and Audi's Markus Duesmann are understood to be aware of Quantum's offer, being sent the "Vision Book" which outlines the proposed purchase.

Despite Lamborghini's operations shutting down for 70 days in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the company only posted a 10 per cent decrease in sales through 2020 off the back of a record 2019, increasing profits to a new high of €1.61billion (AU$2.54billion).