Earlier this week, at Volkswagens annual media conference, the company used the opportunity to clear the air about the future of Bugatti.
Last year, VW had put Ducati, Bugatti, and Lamborghini under review and several months later announced Lamborghini and Ducati will remain a part of the VW Group but had remained quiet on the fate of Bugatti.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, however mentioned during the media conference to say “Porsche is currently preparing a partnership that’s going to be under discussion with Rimac, and Porsche will be taking care of that.”Porsche is currently preparing a partnership that’s going to be under discussion with Rimac, and Porsche will be taking care of that.”
He went on to explain nothing has been finalized, but Volkswagen wants to transfer the responsibility of Bugatti to Porsche. Once that occurs, “Porsche in all probability will establish a joint venture with Rimac, with a minority share of Porsche.”
Porsche recently invested €70 ($83 / £60) million into Rimac to increase their stake in the Croatian company to 24%. Given that sizeable stake, it’s not surprising that a joint venture is a strong possibility.
In other Bugatti news, worldwide sales dropped to 77 units last year. However, that’s only a 6.1% decline from 2019 when the brand sold 82 units.
Furthermore, Volkswagen’s annual report revealed a “new derivative of the Chiron” will be available later this year. That’s presumably the Chiron Super Sport 300+ which is due in mid-2021.
