(Adds denial from Volkswagen)
FRANKFURT, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Volkswagen on Sunday said that it has no plans for a sale or an initial public offering of luxury brand Lamborghini, after Bloomberg reported that it was considering shedding the unit.
Bloomberg reported here on Friday that Volkswagen was readying to fold Lamborghini into a separate legal entity, in a process that may wind up toward the end of next year, and to focus VW’s future expansion on the group’s main global brands Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi.
“There are no plans for a sale or IPO of Lamborghini. Speculation to this effect is unfounded”, a Volkswagen spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.
Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess in March said the company was reviewing its portfolio of brands, which also include Ducati and Bentley, and whether to divest some non-core businesses.
Last month, Diess said the company was working to free up resources for the development and mass production of electric cars.
Streamlining the brand line-up at the world’s biggest automaker could limit prospects for smaller and less geographically diversified divisions such as Skoda and Lamborghini, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Volkswagen had aggressively expanded under the leadership of Ferdinand Piech, who was chief executive and chairman between 1993 and 2015, acquiring Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in a single year. (Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru Editing by Leslie Adler and Elaine Hardcastle)